Comparison of keyboard shortcuts

Main article: Keyboard shortcut

Keyboard shortcuts are a common aspect of most modern operating systems and associated software applications. Their use is pervasive enough that some users consider them an essential element of their routine interactions with a computer. Whether used as a matter of personal preference or for Adaptive technology, the pervasiveness of common conventions enables the comparison of keyboard shortcuts across different systems. The following sections detail some of these comparisons in widely used operating systems.

General shortcuts

Action	Windows	Mac OS	KDE / GNOME	Emacs
Activate current application's Menu bar	Alt	With full keyboard access active:[1][2] Ctrl+F2 (or Fn+Ctrl+F2 on some keyboards)		Meta+`
File menu	Alt+F	Ctrl+F2, then F	Alt+F	Meta+`, then f
Edit menu	Alt+E	Ctrl+F2, then E	Alt+E	Meta+`, then e
View menu	Alt+V	Ctrl+F2, then V	Alt+V
Undo the last operation	Ctrl+Z	⌘ Cmd+Z	Ctrl+Z	Ctrl+x, then u or Ctrl+/ or Ctrl+_ or Undo
Redo the last operation	Ctrl+Y	⇧ Shift+⌘ Cmd+Z	⇧ Shift+Ctrl+Z	Same as undo, when undo is exhausted, it redoes. Move the cursor after one or more undos, and further undos will be redos.
Cut the selected area and store it in the clipboard	Ctrl+X or ⇧ Shift+Del	⌘ Cmd+X	Ctrl+X	Ctrl+w
Copy the selected area into the clipboard	Ctrl+C, or Ctrl+Ins	⌘ Cmd+C	Ctrl+C	Meta+w, or Ctrl+Ins
Paste contents of clipboard at cursor	Ctrl+V, or ⇧ Shift+Ins	⌘ Cmd+V	Ctrl+V	Ctrl+y, or ⇧ Shift+Ins, or
Paste special	Ctrl+Alt+V		Ctrl+⇧ Shift+V	Meta+y
Select everything in focused control or window	Ctrl+A	⌘ Cmd+A	Ctrl+A	Ctrl+x, then h
Toggle among installed keyboard languages	⇧ Shift+Alt	⌘ Cmd+Space Configure desired keypress in Keyboard and Mouse Preferences, Keyboard Shortcuts, Select the next source in Input menu.[3]	Ctrl+Alt+K via KDE Keyboard Layout Switcher keybinding component for KDE	Ctrl+\

Navigation

Action	Windows
Applications menu	⊞ Win or Ctrl+Esc
Change input orientation of "Search programs and files" field in Start Menu	Ctrl+L (left) Ctrl+R (right) Ctrl+E (center)
Lock desktop	⊞ Win+L
Open file or program	↵ Enter
Open new browser window with same page as current	Alt+( D then ↵ Enter )
Open the Run dialog box	⊞ Win+R
Open the Search dialog box	⊞ Win, enter executable name or ⊞ Win+F
Rename object	F2
Run new application	⊞ Win, enter executable name or ⊞ Win+R, enter executable name
Show desktop	⊞ Win+D or ⊞ Win+M (then use ⊞ Win+⇧ Shift+M to bring back all windows)
Switch active user	⊞ Win+L[4]
Switch focus to the next/previous window (without dialog)	Alt+Esc / ⇧ Shift+Alt+Esc
Switch to next/previous focused window	Alt+Tab ⇆ / ⇧ Shift+Alt+Tab ⇆
Task manager	Ctrl+⇧ Shift+Esc, Ctrl+Alt+Delete[5]

Power management

Action	Windows	Mac OS	KDE / GNOME
Place computer into sleep/standby mode	Sleep (available on some keyboards, configurable in Power Options dialog)	⌥ Opt+⌘ Cmd+Eject[2]	Sleep (available on some keyboards, configurable)
Shutdown computer		Ctrl+⌥ Opt+⌘ Cmd+Eject (no confirmation, shutdown is immediate)	Ctrl+Alt+⇧ Shift+PageDown (KDE; no confirmation, shutdown is immediate)
Restart computer		Ctrl+⌘ Cmd+Eject[2] (no confirmation, restart is immediate)	Ctrl+Alt+⇧ Shift+PageUp (KDE; no confirmation, restart is immediate)
Place display in sleep mode		Ctrl+⇧ Shift+Eject
Bring up power/sleep dialog box	Alt+F4 (while on Desktop only)	Ctrl+Eject

Screenshots

Action	Windows	Mac OS	KDE / GNOME
Save screenshot of entire screen as file		⇧ Shift+⌘ Cmd+3	Print Screen
Copy screenshot of entire screen to clipboard	Print Screen or Ctrl+Print Screen	Ctrl+⇧ Shift+⌘ Cmd+3
Save screenshot of window as file		⇧ Shift+⌘ Cmd+4 then Space	Alt+Print Screen (GNOME)
Copy screenshot of window to clipboard	Alt+Print Screen	Ctrl+⇧ Shift+⌘ Cmd+4 then Space
Copy screenshot of arbitrary area to clipboard		Ctrl+⇧ Shift+⌘ Cmd+4
Save screenshot of arbitrary area as file		⇧ Shift+⌘ Cmd+4

Text editing

Many of these commands may be combined with ⇧ Shift to select a region of text.^[6]

Action	Windows	Mac OS	KDE / GNOME	Emacs
Delete char to the right of cursor	Del	Del or Fn+← Backspace	Del	Del, or Ctrl+d
Delete word to the right of cursor	Ctrl+Del	⌥ Opt+Del or ⌥ Opt+ Fn+← Backspace	Ctrl+Del	Meta+d
Delete word to the left of cursor	Ctrl+← Backspace	⌥ Opt+← Backspace	Ctrl+← Backspace	Ctrl+← Backspace, or Meta+← Backspace
Go to start of line	Home	⌘ Cmd+← or Ctrl+A	Home	Ctrl+a, or Home
Go to end of line	End	⌘ Cmd+→ or Ctrl+E	End	Ctrl+e, or End
Go to start of document	Ctrl + Home	⌘ Cmd+↑	Ctrl + Home	Meta+<, or Ctrl+Home
Go to end of document	Ctrl + End	⌘ Cmd+↓	Ctrl + End	Meta+>, or Ctrl+End
Go to previous word	Ctrl+←	⌥ Opt+←	Ctrl+←	Meta+b, or Ctrl+←, or Meta+←
Go to next word	Ctrl+→	⌥ Opt+→	Ctrl+→	Meta+f, or Ctrl+→, or Meta+→
Go to previous line	↑	↑	↑	Ctrl+p, or ↑
Go to next line	↓	↓	↓	Ctrl+n, or ↓
Go to previous line break (paragraph)	Ctrl+↑	⌥ Opt+↑	Ctrl+↑ (kword or GNOME)	Meta+'{', or Control+↑
Go to next line break	Ctrl+↓	⌥ Opt+↓	Ctrl+↓ (kword or GNOME)	Meta+'}', or Control+↓
Go to search	Ctrl+F	⌘ Cmd+F ⌘ Cmd+E (Search with current selection)	Ctrl+F Ctrl+K (GNOME; interactive search)	Ctrl+s
Go to next search result	F3	⌘ Cmd+G	Ctrl+G (GNOME)	Ctrl+s
Go to previous search result	⇧ Shift+F3	⇧ Shift+⌘ Cmd+G	⇧ Shift+Ctrl+G (GNOME)	Ctrl+r
Search and replace	Ctrl+H	⌘ Cmd+F	Ctrl+H (GNOME)	Meta+%
Search a regular expression				Ctrl+Meta+s
Search and replace a regular expression				Ctrl+Meta+%,

Text formatting

Action	Windows	Mac OS	KDE / GNOME	Emacs
Make selected text bold/regular	Ctrl+B	⌘ Cmd+B	Ctrl+B
Toggle underlining of selected text	Ctrl+U	⌘ Cmd+U	Ctrl+U
Make selected text italic/regular	Ctrl+I	⌘ Cmd+I	Ctrl+I
Change to upper/lower case	⇧ Shift+F3 (Office products only?)	⌥ Opt+⌘ Cmd+C		Meta+u for upper, Meta+l for lower, Meta+c for capitalized.
Make selected text superscript	Ctrl+⇧ Shift++	Ctrl+⌘ Cmd++ (Pages only?)
Make selected text subscript	Ctrl++	Ctrl+⌘ Cmd+- (Pages only?)

Browsers / Go menu

Action	Windows	Mac OS	KDE / GNOME
Go to Browser	Alt+D or Alt+C according language	⌘ Cmd+L
Go to the previous location in history	Alt+← or ← Backspace	⌘ Cmd+[ or ⌘ Cmd+←	Alt+←
Go to the next location in history	Alt+→ or ⇧ Shift+← Backspace (web browser only)	⌘ Cmd+] or ⌘ Cmd+→	Alt+→
Go up one level in the navigation hierarchy	Alt+↑(Vista and 7 only) or ← Backspace(Windows Explorer)	⌘ Cmd+↑	Alt+↑
Go to the starting page defined by the user or application	Alt+Home	⌘ Cmd+Home	Ctrl+Home (KDE) / Alt+Home (GNOME)

Web browsers

Action	Windows	Mac OS	KDE / GNOME	Emacs-w3m
Bookmarks menu	Ctrl+B	⌘ Cmd+B (Firefox)	Alt+B	v
URL Shortcuts (Adds www. + .com)	Control+↵ Enter	⌘ Cmd+↵ Enter (Firefox)	Control+↵ Enter
URL Shortcuts (Adds www. + .org)	Ctrl+⇧ Shift+↵ Enter	⇧ Shift+⌘ Cmd+↵ Enter (Firefox)	Ctrl+⇧ Shift+↵ Enter
URL Shortcuts (Adds www. + .net)	⇧ Shift +↵ Enter	⇧ Shift +↵ Enter (Firefox)	⇧ Shift +↵ Enter
Add bookmark for current page	Ctrl+D	⌘ Cmd+D	Ctrl+B / Ctrl+D	a
Add bookmark for current link				Meta+a
Manage bookmarks	Ctrl+B	⌘ Cmd+⌥ Opt+B (Chrome/Safari) or ⌘ Cmd+⇧ Shift+B (Firefox)	Ctrl+⇧ Shift+R / Ctrl+B
Web search	Ctrl+E	⌘ Cmd+E (Opera) or ⌘ Cmd+K (Firefox) or ⌥ Opt+⌘ Cmd+F (Safari)
Focus and select address bar	Ctrl+L or F6 or Alt+D	⌘ Cmd+L	Ctrl+L or F6	g
Refresh a webpage	F5 or Ctrl+R	⌘ Cmd+R	F5 or Ctrl+R	R
Open a new window	Ctrl+N	⌘ Cmd+N (Chrome)	Ctrl+N
Zoom Options (zoom in +, zoom out -, zoom 100%)	Ctrl++ and Ctrl+- and Ctrl+0	⌘ Cmd++ and ⌘ Cmd+- and ⌘ Cmd+0	Ctrl++ and Ctrl+- and Ctrl+0

Tab management

Action	Windows	Mac OS	KDE / GNOME	Emacs-w3m
Create a new tab	Ctrl+T	⌘ Cmd+T	Ctrl+⇧ Shift+N or Ctrl+⇧ Shift+T or Ctrl+T	Ctrl+c, then Ctrl+t
Close current tab	Ctrl+W	⌘ Cmd+W	Ctrl+W or Ctrl+⇧ Shift+W[verification needed] or Ctrl+F4 (GNOME?)	Ctrl+c, then Ctrl+w
Close all tabs but the current one				Ctrl+c, then Meta+w
Go to next tab	Ctrl+Tab ⇆	⌘ Cmd+} or ⌘ Cmd+⇧ Shift+→ (Safari)	Ctrl+PageDown or Ctrl+Tab ⇆ or Ctrl+.	Ctrl+c, then Ctrl+n
Go to previous tab	Ctrl+⇧ Shift+Tab ⇆	⌘ Cmd+{ or ⌘ Cmd+⇧ Shift+← (Safari)	Ctrl+PageUp or Ctrl+⇧ Shift+Tab ⇆ or Ctrl+,	Ctrl+c, then Ctrl+p
Open a previously closed tab	Ctrl+⇧ Shift+T	⌘ Cmd+⇧ Shift+T (Firefox/Opera/Chrome)

Window management

Action	Windows	Mac OS	KDE	GNOME	Emacs
Pop up window menu	Alt+Space		Alt+F3	Alt+Space	Ctrl+`, then b
Close the focused window	Alt+F4 or Ctrl+F4 or Ctrl + W or Alt+Space then C[7]	⌘ Cmd+W	Alt+F4	Alt+F4	Ctrl+x, then k
Restore the focused window to its previous size	Alt+Space then R[7]			Alt+F5	Ctrl+x, then r, then j, then letter of the window state register.
Move the focused window	Alt+Space then M[7] then Arrow Keys		Alt+Mouse / Alt+F3 then M then Arrow Keys	Alt+Mouse / Alt+F7 then Arrow Keys
Resize the focused window	Alt+Space then S[7] then Arrow Keys		Alt+F3 then S then Arrow Keys	Alt+F8 then Arrow Keys	Ctrl+x, then ^ vertically
Hide the focused window		⌘ Cmd+H			Meta+x, then bury-buffer RET, then Ret
Minimize the focused window	Alt+Space then N[7], or ⊞ Win+↓ (Windows 7 and Vista Home Premium)	⌘ Cmd+M	Alt+F3 then N	Alt+F9	Meta+x, then bury-buffer RET, then Ret
Maximize the focused window	Alt+Space then X[7], or ⊞ Win+↑ (Windows 7 only)		Alt+F3 then X	Alt+F10	Ctrl+x, then 1
Maximize horizontally			Available, but no default	Available, but no default
Maximize vertically	⊞ Win+⇧ Shift+↑ (Windows 7 only)		Available, but no default	Available, but no default
Minimize all	⊞ Win+M or ⊞ Win+D	⌘ Cmd+Alt+M	Available, but no default	Ctrl+Alt+D
Minimize all non focused windows	⊞ Win+Home (Windows 7 only)		Available, but no default
Undo minimize all	⇧ Shift+⊞ Win+M		Available, but no default	Ctrl+Alt+D
Switch fullscreen/normal size	F11		F11	F11
Show the window in full screen mode, with no border, menubar, toolbar or statusbar		Depends on application	Ctrl+⇧ Shift+F	Ctrl+F11
Rollup/down window			Available, but no default	Alt+F12
Show all open windows		F9 or Move mouse pointer to configured hot corner or active screen corner[8][9]			Ctrl+x, then Ctrl+b
Show all windows of current application		F10 or Move mouse pointer to configured hot corner or active screen corner[8][9]			Ctrl+x, then Ctrl+b
Show all workspaces		F8 or Move mouse pointer to configured hot corner or active screen corner[8][9]
Move window to left/right/up/down workspace	⊞ Win+←/→ (Windows 7 only)			Ctrl+Alt+⇧ Shift+ ← / → / ↑ / ↓
Move window to workspace n			Available, but no default
Switch to next/previous workspace list			'Available, but no default
Go to workspace n		Ctrl+n	Ctrl+Fn
Go to left/right/up/down workspace	[10]	Ctrl+← / Ctrl+→ / Ctrl+↑ / Ctrl+↓ (OS X 10.5 or later)		Ctrl+Alt+← / → / ↑ / ↓
Show / hide desktop	⊞ Win+D	F11 or Move mouse pointer to configured hot corner or active screen corner[8][9]	Ctrl+Alt+D	Ctrl+Alt+D user specific, no default
Activate window demanding attention
Quit application of current window	Alt+F4 or Ctrl+F4 varies[11]	⌘ Cmd+Q[12]	Ctrl+Alt+Esc		q
Close dialog	Esc	Esc
Open/Focus (preview) pinned program on the taskbar	⊞ Win+(#) where "#" is the position of the program on the Windows 7 Taskbar (Windows 7 only)
Open new program window of pinned program in Quick Launch	⊞ Win+(#) where "#" is the position of the program on the Quick Launch toolbar (Windows Vista and 7)
Open new program window of the pinned program on the taskbar (if program is already opened)	⊞ Win+⇧ Shift+(#) where "#" is the position of the program on the Windows 7 Taskbar (Windows 7 only)
Focus the first taskbar entry. Pressing again will cycle through them	⊞ Win+T , you can ←→ back and forth. Hold ⇧ Shift to cycle backwards (Windows 7 only)
Peek at the desktop	⊞ Win+Space (Windows 7 only)	F11 or Move mouse pointer to configured hot corner or active screen corner[8][9]
Bring gadgets to the front of the Z-order and cycle between gadgets	⊞ Win+G (Windows Vista,7) or ⊞ Win+Space (Vista only, no cycling)
External display options (mirror, extend desktop, etc.)	⊞ Win+P (Windows 7 only)

User interface navigation (widgets and controls)

Action	Windows	Mac OS	KDE	GNOME
Moves keyboard focus to next/previous control	Tab ⇆ / ⇧ Shift+Tab ⇆	Tab ⇆ / ⇧ Shift+Tab ⇆	Tab ⇆ / ⇧ Shift+Tab ⇆	Tab ⇆ / ⇧ Shift+Tab ⇆ Ctrl+Tab ⇆ / ⇧ Shift+Ctrl+Tab ⇆
Pop up tooltip for currently focused control	⇧ Shift+F1			Ctrl+F1
Show context-sensitive help for currently focused window or control	⇧ Shift+F1	⌘ Cmd+?	⇧ Shift+F1	⇧ Shift+F1
Give focus to next/previous pane	Ctrl+F6 / Alt+F6	⌘ Cmd+`		F6 / ⇧ Shift+F6
Give focus to splitter bar in paned window				F8
Give focus to window's menu bar	F10 or Alt	Ctrl+F2 (or Fn+Ctrl+F2 on some keyboards)	Alt	F10
Pop up contextual menu for currently selected objects (aka context menu)	⇧ Shift+F10 or ≣ Menu	Varies with laptop / extended keyboard type; enable Mouse keys in Universal Access, then Function+Ctrl+5 or Ctrl+5 (numeric keypad) or Function+Ctrl+i (laptop)	≣ Menu	⇧ Shift+F10
Toggle selected state of focused checkbox, radio button, or toggle button	Space	Space	Space	Space
Activate focused button, menu item etc.	↵ Enter	Space (also ↵ Enter for menu items)	↵ Enter	↵ Enter
Select/move to first/last item in selected widget			Home / End	Home / End
Scroll selected view by one page up/left/down/right		⇞ / ⇟ (or Fn+↑}+Fn+↓ on some keyboards)		PageUp / Ctrl+PageUp / PageDown / Ctrl+PageDown
Scroll selected view to top/bottom		↖ or on MacBook Pro Fn + ⌥ Opt + ↖ ↘ or on MacBook Pro Fn + ⌥ Opt + ↘
Switch focus to the next/previous tab within a window	Ctrl+Tab ⇆	Ctrl+Tab ⇆ / ⌘ Cmd+`
Switch focus to the next/previous panel on the desktop				Ctrl+Alt+Tab ⇆ / ⇧ Shift+Ctrl+Alt+Tab ⇆
Switch focus to the next/previous panel (without dialog)				Ctrl+Alt+Esc / ⇧ Shift+Ctrl+Alt+Esc

Command line shortcuts

Below is a list of common keyboard shortcuts that are used in a command line environment.

Action	Microsoft Windows (cmd.exe)	Microsoft Windows (Windows PowerShell)	Unix/Linux/Mac OS X (bash)	Unix/Linux/Mac OS X (POSIX shell)
Scroll through History of typed commands	↑/↓	↑/↓	↑/↓ or Ctrl+P/Ctrl+N	ESC K/ESC J
Signal end-of-file	Ctrl+Z		Ctrl+D
Abort current command/typing	Ctrl+C	Ctrl+C	Ctrl+C	Ctrl+C
Erase word to the left			Ctrl+W
Erase word to the right			Alt+D
Erase line to the left	Ctrl+Home		Ctrl+U
Erase line to the right	Ctrl+End	Ctrl+End	Ctrl+K
Yank/paste previously erased string			Ctrl+Y
Move one word to the left (backward)	Ctrl+←	Ctrl+←	Alt+B
Move one word to the right (forward)	Ctrl+→	Ctrl+→	Alt+F
Move to beginning of line	Home	Home	Ctrl+A
Move to end of line	End	End	Ctrl+E
Reverse search of history	F7	F8	Ctrl+R
Stop execution of the current job			Ctrl+Z
Insert the next character typed verbatim			Ctrl+V
Autocomplete command/file name	Tab ⇆ (enabled by default in Windows XP and later)	Tab ⇆	Tab ⇆ (usually once)	Esc (usually twice)
Scroll window up	⇧ Shift+PageUp (may not work in some versions of Windows XP)		⇧ Shift+PageUp
Scroll window down	⇧ Shift+PageDown (may not work in some versions of Windows XP)		⇧ Shift+PageDown

Accessibility

In Windows, it is possible to disable these shortcuts using the Accessibility or Ease of Access control panel.

Action	Windows	Mac OS	KDE	GNOME
Utility Manager	⊞ Win+U
Use keyboard to control cursor	(Left Alt+Left Shift+Numlock
Allow user to press shortcuts one key at a time	(⇧ Shift 5 times)
Hear beep when -lock key pressed	(Numlock for 5 seconds)
Stop/slow repeating characters when key is pressed	(Right Shift for 8 seconds)
Inverse (Reverse Colors) Mode	Left Alt+Left Shift+PrtScn	⌘ Cmd+⌥ Opt+Ctrl+8

User interface shortcuts

Below is a list of common keyboard shortcuts that are used to select a User interface (UI).

Action	Microsoft Windows	Linux X11	OS X
CLI		Ctrl+Alt+F1 to Ctrl+Alt+F6
GUI		Usually Ctrl+Alt+F7 or Ctrl+Alt+F8
GPU enhanced GUI