Editing

DuckDB’s CLI uses a line-editing library based on linenoise, which has short-cuts that are based on Emacs mode of readline. Below is a list of available commands.

Moving

Key	Action
Left	Move back a character
Right	Move forward a character
Up	Move up a line. When on the first line, move to previous history entry
Down	Move down a line. When on last line, move to next history entry
Home	Move to beginning of buffer
End	Move to end of buffer
Ctrl+Left	Move back a word
Ctrl+Right	Move forward a word
Ctrl+A	Move to beginning of buffer
Ctrl+B	Move back a character
Ctrl+E	Move to end of buffer
Ctrl+F	Move forward a character
Alt+Left	Move back a word
Alt+Right	Move forward a word

History

Key	Action
Ctrl+P	Move to previous history entry
Ctrl+N	Move to next history entry
Ctrl+R	Search the history
Ctrl+S	Search the history
Alt+<	Move to first history entry
Alt+>	Move to last history entry
Alt+N	Search the history
Alt+P	Search the history

Changing Text

Key	Action
Backspace	Delete previous character
Delete	Delete next character
Ctrl+D	Delete next character. When buffer is empty, end editing
Ctrl+H	Delete previous character
Ctrl+K	Delete everything after the cursor
Ctrl+T	Swap current and next character
Ctrl+U	Delete all text
Ctrl+W	Delete previous word
Alt+C	Convert next word to titlecase
Alt+D	Delete next word
Alt+L	Convert next word to lowercase
Alt+R	Delete all text
Alt+T	Swap current and next word
Alt+U	Convert next word to uppercase
Alt+Backspace	Delete previous word
Alt+\	Delete spaces around cursor

Completing

Key	Action
Tab	Autocomplete. When autocompleting, cycle to next entry
Shift+Tab	When autocompleting, cycle to previous entry
ESC+ESC	When autocompleting, revert autocompletion

Miscellaneous

Key	Action
Enter	Execute query. If query is not complete, insert a newline at the end of the buffer
Ctrl+J	Execute query. If query is not complete, insert a newline at the end of the buffer
Ctrl+C	Cancel editing of current query
Ctrl+G	Cancel editing of current query
Ctrl+L	Clear screen
Ctrl+O	Cancel editing of current query
Ctrl+X	Insert a newline after the cursor
Ctrl+Z	Suspend CLI and return to shell, use `fg` to re-open

Using Read-Line

If you prefer, you can use rlwrap to use read-line directly with the shell. Then, use Shift+Enter to insert a newline and Enter to execute the query:

rlwrap --substitute-prompt="D " duckdb -batch

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Last modified: 2024-04-25