Are there any keyboard shortcuts to switch between tabs in terminal?

Question

score 59 · Accepted Answer · edited Jul 24 '22 at 14:42

59

Default shortcuts

These are the shortcuts listed under the Terminal -> Window menu. On older MacOS versions they were called Select Next Tab and Select Previous Tab.

Show Next Tab: ⌘+} (selects the tab to the right of your current tab)
Show Previous Tab: ⌘+{ (selects the tab to the left of your current tab)

I think it would make more sense to say ⌘+⇧+] / [, since that's actually what you type.

How to set custom Terminal shortcuts?

Since there are menu items that these shortcuts trigger, you can use System Preferences-> Keyboard-> Keyboard Shortcuts-> App Shortcuts to reassign the shortcuts to whatever you want. Click + to add a shortcut:

Application field - select Other... (at the bottom) and navigate to Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal.app.
Menu Title field - type the name of your shortcut, e.g. Show Next Tab (you can find the exact shortcut name in the Terminal -> Window menu, where the default shortcuts are listed)
Keyboard Shortcut field - press your custom shortcut keys.

edited Jul 24 '22 at 14:42

Filip Happy

103

answered Jan 20 '12 at 19:19

Nathan Greenstein

28,910

1

On a German keyboard the combos are: CMD+Ä and CMD+Ö (yes, with the 'Umlaute') :) – gentmatt Jan 20 '12 at 19:26
I'm curious, are those located just above and to the left of the right shift key? – Nathan Greenstein Jan 20 '12 at 19:27
Diagonal to the top left. So I guess it's the same location! – gentmatt Jan 20 '12 at 19:27
Defaults seem so foreign (but I'm not a heavy mac user...), Chrome and my text editor use Meta + Alt + Arrows to flip through tabs, but Terminal.app is a special snowflake I guess. – Nick T Jun 30 '13 at 06:29
From the screenshot, to modify the Terminal app, the Application should be Terminal.app (under Applications > Utilities). – Chase T. Oct 14 '14 at 01:15
4

As of OS X El Capitan, the Menu Title is now Show Next Tab. – bassplayer7 Jan 11 '16 at 14:57
If you have attached an external keyboard the shortcut can not be registered. – Shiplu Mokaddim Apr 04 '17 at 08:28

score 30 · Answer 2 · edited Oct 07 '14 at 21:25

30

⌘ + ⇧ + arrow keys is also a valid option.

Enjoy!

edited Oct 07 '14 at 21:25

Alistair McMillan

14,187

answered Oct 07 '14 at 19:29

E Barrett

311

4

Not sure why this was voted down. Works for me. – Alistair McMillan Oct 07 '14 at 21:26
no source, no reference, bit short on explaining ect.. – Ruskes Oct 07 '14 at 23:36
Doesn't work for me on Mavericks. – MikeB Nov 04 '14 at 22:03
1

Works great for me on Yosemite. This is a far better answer for people with non-english keyboards where the braces are hard to type. – Klas Mellbourn Dec 21 '14 at 19:16
Works for me on Yosemite as well. You can use Command + arrows to switch terminal windows and add shift to switch tabs inside the window. – Milan Babuškov Jan 09 '15 at 09:33

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 15 '15 at 10:53

1

If you want to choose your own shortcut for switching tabs in terminal:

open /System/Library/PreferencePanes/Keyboard.prefPane/

Application Shortcuts > (Add) > Application (Other...) > Applications/Utilities/Terminal

Menu titles:

Select Next Tab
Select Previous Tab

I've chosen, for example, ⌘+ALT+⇦ and ⌘+ALT+⇨.

answered Jul 15 '15 at 10:53

Jose Alban

226

Is Select Next Tab a reserved command on Mac? I mean, I don't get how the OS will understand this. – IgorGanapolsky Apr 08 '16 at 14:45
1

Yea, this is what I would like to set my Terminal shortcut to be too since every other application with tabs uses this. But it doesn't work when I add it in shortcuts.... How does mac know what command to do? – jaredwilli May 18 '16 at 12:22
If a new OS X version has changed the Terminal app menu item titles, then change it accordingly. – Jose Alban May 18 '16 at 12:59

Are there any keyboard shortcuts to switch between tabs in terminal?

3 Answers3