# I didn't know this!

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/i-didnt-know-this/140233>\
**Category:** General Usage\
**Created:** [October 25, 2026, 12:09pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/i-didnt-know-this/140233 "2026-10-25T12:09:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![freeman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ec9cab/32.png) [@freeman](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/freeman)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2026, 12:09pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/i-didnt-know-this/140233/1 "2026-10-25T12:09:07Z")

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Guys guys. Try pressing CTRL+S on the Repl…  
Julia 1.13.2

Nice feature, but perhaps not the best hotkey? CTRL+S is “save” everywhere else.

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**Author:** ![giordano](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/giordano/32/2166_2.png) [@giordano](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/giordano)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2026, 12:56pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/i-didnt-know-this/140233/2 "2026-10-25T12:56:47Z")

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> [@freeman](#):
>
> CTRL+S is “save” everywhere else.

That’s not true: in Emacs, and all Emacs-inspired keybindings (like most shells, and REPLs, including ipython), Ctrl+S is, surprise, [the search functionality](https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/Basic-Isearch.html). So, in fact, Ctrl+S (and Ctrl+R) is a very standard keybinding for searching through the history.

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**Author:** ![ufechner7](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/ufechner7/32/51363_2.png) [@ufechner7](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/ufechner7)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2026, 12:58pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/i-didnt-know-this/140233/3 "2026-10-25T12:58:03Z")

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I didn’t know that either! Very useful. 🙂

By the way, in BASH it is not used for search:

```julia-auto
Ctrl+S normally pauses terminal output (XOFF), rather than saving anything.

```

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**Author:** ![giordano](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/giordano/32/2166_2.png) [@giordano](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/giordano)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2026, 4:44pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/i-didnt-know-this/140233/4 "2026-10-25T16:44:42Z")

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> [@ufechner7](#):
>
> By the way, in BASH it is not used for search:
> 
> ```julia-auto
> Ctrl+S normally pauses terminal output (XOFF), rather than saving anything.
> 
> ```

That’s not bash, but your terminal emulator overriding Ctrl+S. In bash, [Ctrl+S is by default the forward search in the shell history](https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/html_node/Commands-For-History.html), precisely like Emacs (well, in Emacs the search is in the buffer, not the history, but the idea of reverse and forward search is the same).