Suppose in bash you start writing a command like:
$ rm -rf /foo/bar/really/long/path/here
and then realize you don't want to execute this after all. Is there a way to clear the input with one or two keystrokes?
What I have been doing lately is prepending echo and enclosing the input in quotes (Ctrl+A, echo ", Ctrl+E, ") then hitting enter. Is there a faster way?
Press Ctrl-U to delete everything before the cursor. The deleted command will be stored into a buffer. Press Ctrl-Y to paste the deleted command.
(Optional: Press End or Ctrl-E to jump to the end of the input first.)
Alternatively, press Ctrl-C to abort what you're typing.
Found a short reference at http://www.ice2o.com/bash_quick_ref.html while searching.
ctrl + e (if not at the end of the line) plus ctrl + u will do it.
There are two options to do this
ctrl+c - this clears the whole line, no matter where the cursor is.
ctrl+u - this clear the line from the position of the cursor until the beginning.
Consider that using Ctrl-U (or Ctrl-E and then Ctrl-U) will store what you clear in a buffer so that you can then paste it later using Ctrl-Y.
To delete the current line, try:
Ctrl-X, Ctrl-U
As an alternative you may use:
Esc-D
which requires in ~/.inputrc:
"\ed": kill-whole-line