Keyboard shortcuts

Last updated: 2026-10-30

Every shortcut on the Mac is an item of the menu bar, so you can also find each one there, beside the command it gives. Below are the menus in the menu bar's order, each with its items that have a key. On the iPad, a hardware keyboard has the same keys for the commands it has (see On the iPad).

Shortcuts are written in words, with the modifiers in the order the menus show them: Control, Option, Shift, Command, then the key.

SpectaShell#

Shell#

A window holds desks, a desk holds panes, and a pane holds tabs. New Tab opens a shell as a tab of the pane you are working in, New Desk a new desk. Close Tab closes the tab you are working in — the pane with it when it was its last — Close Desk the desk in front with all its panes, and Close Window the window with all its desks. See Working in the terminal.

Edit#

Find Next goes up, to older output, and Find Previous down, to newer, since a terminal is searched from the bottom up. Copy Output, at the end of the Edit menu, has no key. Move Item Here and New Folder are SFTP's: the first moves the items you copied into the folder you are in, rather than copying them, as the Finder's does (see In SFTP).

Snippets#

The Snippets menu lists the snippets for the host of the pane you are working in, so its items change as you move between panes. The first nine take Control-Option-1 to 9, in the order the menu shows them (see Other keys). Edit Snippets… at its end has no key.

View#

Show Status Line, in the same menu, has no key.

Window#

Command-1 to Command-9 show the desk of that number. Select Previous Tab and Select Next Tab go round the tabs of the pane you are working in.

Help#

Other keys#

These keys are not menu items.

In SFTP#

While a pane of the SFTP page has the keyboard (click in its list first):

For Norton Commander users, its keys work too: F5 copies to the other pane, F6 moves there, F7 makes a folder and F8 moves to the Trash (rather than deleting, so Undo brings items back). On a Mac keyboard, hold fn with them, unless the keys are set to work as standard function keys in System Settings › Keyboard. The iPad's Magic Keyboard has no function keys; the other keys above work there.

Between two places — this device and a host, or two hosts — items are only copied: the originals stay. Move, and its keys, works between two panes on the same place.

On the iPad#

With a hardware keyboard, hold Command to see the shortcuts the system lists for SpectaShell. The keys are the Mac's:

• SpectaShell: Settings… (Command-,).
• File: New Tab (Command-T), New Desk (Shift-Command-T) and New Connection… (Shift-Command-K).
• Shell: Split Left and Right (Command-D), Split Top and Bottom (Shift-Command-D), Equalize Splits (Control-Command-=), Zoom Pane (Shift-Command-Return), Open Location… (Command-L), Rename Desk… (Shift-Command-R), Close Tab (Command-W), Close Desk (Option-Command-W), Select Previous Desk (Shift-Command-[), Select Next Desk (Shift-Command-]), Select Previous Tab (Control-Shift-Tab), Select Next Tab (Control-Tab), and the desks by number, Command-1 to Command-9.
• Edit: after the system's Copy (Command-C), Paste (Command-V) and Select All (Command-A), Paste from History… (Shift-Command-H), Find… (Command-F), Find Next (Command-G), Find Previous (Shift-Command-G), Previous Prompt (Shift-Command-Up Arrow), Next Prompt (Shift-Command-Down Arrow), Select Output (Shift-Command-A) and Copy Output. They act on the terminal you are typing in.
• View: Bigger Text (Command-+), Smaller Text (Command-−), Actual Size (Command-0), Show Status Line, Show Side Panel (Option-Command-I), which shows on an iPad in landscape, and Go to Next Waiting (Shift-Command-U).
• Snippets: the first nine snippets for the host of the pane you are working in, with Control-Option-1 to 9, and Edit Snippets….
• Help: SpectaShell Help (Command-?).

The other keys in Other keys work too, with Command-tap for Command-click. An iPhone with a keyboard has the same keys.