ssh: Escape sequences

ssh supports a small number of control commands via an escape sequence. This is helpful if a session hangs (e.g. dropped connection) and becomes non-responsive; the escape codes can be used to kill it immediately.

The sequences all start with the escape character, which is a tilde, ~, by default but can be specified with EscapeChar or -e options:

• ~. - kill the session
• ~? - list all escape sequences
• etc.

Note that these only work immediately following a newline, so it helps to prefix all of those with Enter i.e. <Enter>~. etc.

Read more in the manual: man ssh | less '+/^ESCAPE CHARACTERS'