dotfiles/docs/keybinds/fish.md

Fish Shell Keybindings

Complete reference for Fish shell keybindings, including built-in defaults, plugins, and custom configurations.

Custom Bindings

Personal keybindings configured in this dotfiles repository.

Keybinding	Action	Source
Alt+a	fzf_search_abbr	config.fish - Search abbreviations/aliases with fzf

Quick Reference

Most Useful "Hidden" Bindings

These are the bindings most users don't know about:

Keybinding	What it does
Alt+s	Toggle sudo prefix
Alt+.	Repeat last argument from previous command
Alt+e	Edit long commands in your editor
Alt+o	Preview file under cursor
Alt+l	Quick ls of path under cursor
Alt+w	whatis for command under cursor
Alt+p	Pipe output through pager automatically
Alt+#	Comment out command (save to history without running)
Alt+Up/Down	Search history for current token
F1	Instant man page for current command
Ctrl+x / Ctrl+v	Native clipboard integration
Shift+Delete	Delete current history entry

Emacs-Style Navigation Cheatsheet

Ctrl+a ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── Ctrl+e
       │                                                 │
       └─ Ctrl+b ◄─── cursor ───► Ctrl+f ────────────────┘
                        │
                  Ctrl+Left/Right (by word)
                  Shift+Left/Right (by WORD)

Kill Ring

Fish maintains a "kill ring" of deleted text:

1. Ctrl+k / Ctrl+u / Alt+d - Kill (cut) text
2. Ctrl+y - Yank (paste) most recent kill
3. Alt+y - Cycle through previous kills

Plugin Bindings

Keybindings added by Fish plugins (Fisher).

Atuin (History)

Keybinding	Action	Description
Ctrl+r	_atuin_search	Search shell history (replaces built-in history-pager)

fzf.fish (PatrickF1/fzf.fish)

Keybinding	Action	Description
Ctrl+Alt+f	fzf_search_directory	Search files in current directory
Ctrl+Alt+l	fzf_search_git_log	Search git log
Ctrl+Alt+s	fzf_search_git_status	Search git status
Ctrl+Alt+p	fzf_search_processes	Search running processes
Alt+Ctrl+v	fzf_search_variables	Search shell variables (remapped from Ctrl+v)

Note: Ctrl+r (history) is disabled in fzf.fish config to let Atuin handle it.

Built-in Bindings

Default Fish shell keybindings (emacs mode).

Execution & Completion

Keybinding	Action	Description
Enter	execute	Execute current command
Ctrl+j	execute	Execute current command
Ctrl+m	execute	Execute current command
Ctrl+Enter	execute	Execute current command (prevents mistypes)
Tab	complete	Autocomplete
Ctrl+i	complete	Autocomplete (same as Tab)
Shift+Tab	complete-and-search	Complete and open search pager
Ctrl+s	pager-toggle-search	Toggle search in completion pager

Navigation (Line)

Keybinding	Action	Description
Ctrl+a	beginning-of-line	Jump to start of line
Ctrl+e	end-of-line	Jump to end of line
Home	beginning-of-line	Jump to start of line
End	end-of-line	Jump to end of line
Ctrl+f	forward-char	Move right one character
Ctrl+b	backward-char	Move left one character
Right	forward-char	Move right one character
Left	backward-char	Move left one character

Navigation (Word)

Keybinding	Action	Description
Ctrl+Right	forward-word	Jump forward one word
Ctrl+Left	backward-word	Jump backward one word
Shift+Right	forward-bigword	Jump forward one WORD (whitespace-delimited)
Shift+Left	backward-bigword	Jump backward one WORD
Alt+f	nextd-or-forward-token	Next directory OR forward token
Alt+b	prevd-or-backward-word	Previous directory OR backward word
Alt+Right	nextd-or-forward-token	Next directory OR forward token
Alt+Left	prevd-or-backward-token	Previous directory OR backward token

Navigation (Buffer)

Keybinding	Action	Description
Alt+<	beginning-of-buffer	Jump to start of buffer
Alt+>	end-of-buffer	Jump to end of buffer

Text Editing (Delete)

Keybinding	Action	Description
Backspace	backward-delete-char	Delete character before cursor
Shift+Backspace	backward-delete-char	Delete character before cursor
Ctrl+h	backward-delete-char	Delete character before cursor
Delete	delete-char	Delete character at cursor
Ctrl+d	delete-or-exit	Delete character or exit if line empty
Ctrl+w	backward-kill-path-component	Delete previous path component
Ctrl+u	backward-kill-line	Delete from cursor to start of line
Ctrl+k	kill-line	Delete from cursor to end of line
Alt+Backspace	backward-kill-token	Delete previous token
Ctrl+Alt+h	backward-kill-token	Delete previous token
Ctrl+Backspace	backward-kill-word	Delete previous word
Alt+Delete	kill-token	Delete token ahead
Ctrl+Delete	kill-word	Delete word ahead
Alt+d	kill-word / dirh	Delete word ahead OR show directory history if empty

Text Editing (Transform)

Keybinding	Action	Description
Ctrl+t	transpose-chars	Swap current and previous characters
Alt+t	transpose-words	Swap current and previous words
Alt+u	upcase-word	UPPERCASE the current word
Alt+c	capitalize-word	Capitalize the current word

Undo & Redo

Keybinding	Action	Description
Ctrl+z	undo	Undo last edit
Ctrl+/	undo	Undo last edit
Ctrl+_	undo	Undo last edit (XTerm)
Ctrl+Shift+z	redo	Redo last undone edit
Alt+/	redo	Redo last undone edit

Clipboard & Yank

Keybinding	Action	Description
Ctrl+x	fish_clipboard_copy	Copy commandline to system clipboard
Ctrl+v	fish_clipboard_paste	Paste from system clipboard
Ctrl+y	yank	Yank (paste) last killed text
Alt+y	yank-pop	Cycle through kill ring

History Navigation

Keybinding	Action	Description
Up	up-or-search	Previous history / prefix search
Down	down-or-search	Next history / prefix search
Ctrl+p	up-or-search	Previous history / prefix search
Ctrl+n	down-or-search	Next history / prefix search
PageUp	beginning-of-history	Jump to oldest history entry
PageDown	end-of-history	Jump to newest history entry
Shift+Delete	history-delete	Delete current history entry

History Token Search

Keybinding	Action	Description
Alt+Up	history-token-search-backward	Search history for token under cursor (backward)
Alt+Down	history-token-search-forward	Search history for token under cursor (forward)
Alt+.	history-token-search-backward	Insert last argument from previous command

Special Functions

Keybinding	Action	Description
Alt+s	fish_commandline_prepend sudo	Toggle sudo prefix on current line
Alt+e	edit_command_buffer	Open command in $EDITOR
Alt+v	edit_command_buffer	Open command in $EDITOR
Alt+p	__fish_paginate	Pipe command output through pager
Alt+#	__fish_toggle_comment_commandline	Toggle # comment on line
Alt+l	__fish_list_current_token	List/expand current token (like ls on path)
Alt+o	__fish_preview_current_file	Preview file under cursor
Alt+w	__fish_whatis_current_token	Show whatis for command under cursor
F1	__fish_man_page	Open man page for current command
Alt+h	__fish_man_page	Open man page for current command

Line Control

Keybinding	Action	Description
Ctrl+l	clear-screen	Clear screen (with scrollback push if supported)
Ctrl+c	clear-commandline	Clear current command line
Ctrl+g	cancel	Cancel current operation
Escape	cancel	Cancel / exit mode
Ctrl+[	cancel	Cancel (escape sequence)

Text Insertion

Keybinding	Action	Description
Space	self-insert expand-abbr	Insert space and expand abbreviations
;	self-insert expand-abbr	Insert semicolon and expand abbreviations
|	self-insert expand-abbr	Insert pipe and expand abbreviations
&	self-insert expand-abbr	Insert ampersand and expand abbreviations
>	self-insert expand-abbr	Insert redirect and expand abbreviations
<	self-insert expand-abbr	Insert redirect and expand abbreviations
)	self-insert expand-abbr	Insert paren and expand abbreviations
Shift+Enter	commandline -i \n	Insert newline without executing
Alt+Enter	commandline -i \n	Insert newline without executing
Ctrl+Space	Insert literal space	Insert space without expanding abbreviations
Shift+Space	self-insert expand-abbr	Insert space (same as Space)

Configuration

Keybindings are configured in:

• Built-in: fish_default_key_bindings function (emacs mode)
• Custom: ~/.config/fish/config.fish (this repo: home/dot_config/fish/config.fish.tmpl)
• Plugins: Managed via Fisher, configured in config.fish

Checking Current Bindings

# List all bindings
bind

# List preset (built-in) bindings
bind --preset

# List user-defined bindings
bind --user

# Show what a specific key does
bind \ea  # Shows Alt+a binding

Adding Custom Bindings

# In config.fish
bind \ek 'echo "Hello"'           # Alt+k
bind -M insert \ek 'echo "Hello"' # Also bind in insert mode (vi)