Problem
When I type alt+j, I always get the character ∆, even if I've assigned alt+j to a keyboard shortcut within VSCode.
The same is true for any other alphanumeric keys, but non-character-generating keys work fine with alt, like alt+upArrow.
Therefore, I can't use the alt key as a modifier for many keyboard shortcuts.
I realize this is normal MacOS behavior for text input, but I'm wondering:
Question
Can VSCode override / takes-precedence-over the OS, so that I can use the alt key for keyboard shortcuts?
Tried so far
I've searched for settings within VSCode and MacOS, but haven't found anything obvious. I've also edited keybindings.json, to no effect.
Solved this as follows with no complicated keybinding file changes:
⟶ System preferences
⟶ Keyboard
⟶ Input Sources Tab
⟶ + at bottom left
⟶ add and select Unicode Hex Input from panel on right
✓ Mac no longer prints anything on alt+letter|number
✓ enter unicode characters via alt+[code]
✅ Keyboard shortcuts are assignable to alt key!
“terminal.integrated.macOptionIsMeta”: true
Source
I have two editors opened, one on the left and one on the right. How to switch between them? I tried Ctrl + 1/2/3 but doesn't work.
It works, using the 1, 2 keys above the letters (not the keypad). Events in the keyboard shortcuts panel are under workbench.action.focusFirstEditorGroup and so on.
You can also bind commands such as workbench.action.navigateRight and so on to move focus between panels.
Ctrl+Shift+P show all commands, search Preference: Open Keyboard Shortcuts and open it, then you can search the action or shortcuts.
for this problem,searchfocusFirstEditorgroup,you can see the shortcut,change as you like.then searchfoucusSecondEditorGroup and so on.
I just read Google's R Style Guide, and decide to be consist with the letter case in function names and variables. How to change letter case in RStudio's editor? To be specific, how to change words
to all lowercase
to all uppercase
to captilized case (capitalize the first letter)?
To Lower case you can use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + U,
To Upper case you can use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + U
According to Rstudio support:
There isn't one [i.e., a hotkey] right now. The functionality is available under the Vim keybindings, though--with the editor in Vim mode, pressing ~ will toggle the case of the character under the cursor (or of the current selection, etc.)
Further information on Vim mode is available at support.
How do I better navigate the command line? In TextMate, I can do:
CMD + ALT + ARROW to switch tabs
CMD + SHIFT + ARROW to highlight lines of text
ALT + SHIFT + ARROW to highlight words
ALT + ARROW to jump words, etc.
How do I do this kind of stuff in the terminal?
Here's a slightly more complete mapping from Mac text navigation to the default Readline keys:
I set this up in the Keys pane of my iTerm2 preferences, but you should be able to make the same mappings in Terminal.app (Edit: Everything except the first two. Terminal.app only lets you pick from a few different keys)
In MacOS' Terminal app, you can change your keyboard bindings; go to Terminal Preferences (shortcut Cmd + ,) and navigate to the 'Keyboard' tab:
Key => Action
control cursor left => \033b
control cursor right => \033f
etc. You can do the same thing with other emacs-style bindings. As far as switching tabs, that's a System Preferences > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts setting; click 'Application Shortcuts' on the left side, and then click + on the right to add a new shortcut. Use your desired keyboard combo and pair it with the exact menu name, which in Terminal for moving forward/backward through tabs is 'Select Next Tab' and 'Select Previous Tab' (via the Window menu in Terminal), respectively.
Does that help?
This is a pointer for anyone landing here looking for the equivalent tips for iTerm (as opposed to the default terminal).
To do the same in iTerm, go to menu "Bookmarks", "Manage Profiles", "Keyboard profiles", "Global".
Then add all of the shortcuts you see in the other answers here, but instead of sending text "\033..." when creating a mapping, you simply select the action "send character sequence" and the character for the escape sequence!.
"\033b" becomes b
"\033f" becomes f
and so on.
Escape sequence example
Some things can be done by editing the readline bindings (see bind -p / man bash) but for some of the mac keyboard keys you can (or need to?) set extras up in Terminal.app's preferences.
For word navigation try this:
Terminal preferences -> settings -> keyboard
add the following:
option cursor left \033b (escape b) (backwards word)
option cursor right \033f (escape f) (forward word)
option forward delete \033d (escape d) (kill word)
Word boundaries behave a little differently, but it's better than single character or whole line navigation, and doesn't require trading your option key for a meta key and learning a bunch of new key combos.
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I'm a keyboard junkie. I love having a key sequence to do everything. What are your favorite keyboard shortcuts?
I'll start by naming a couple of mine:
1 - Alt-Space to access the windows menu for the current window
2 - F2 to rename a file in Windows Explorer
Win + Pause/Break to bring up computer information and to access environment variables under the Advanced tab.
Win + R to go straight to the run box (though I barely use this anymore since I started with Launchy).
Of course Alt + Tab but also Alt + Shift + Tab for going backwards.
Oh, and personally, I hate Ctrl + F4 for closing tabs - too much of a pinky stretch.
Oh and try Win + Tab on Windows 7 (with Aero on).
Win + 1 .. 9 -- Start quick launch shortcut at that index (Windows Vista).
Ctrl + Scroll Lock, Scroll Lock -- Crash your computer: Windows feature lets you generate a memory dump file by using the keyboard
#gabr -- Win + D is show desktop, Win + M minimizes all windows. Hitting Win + D twice brings everything back as it has only shown the desktop window in front of the other windows.
Alt-F4 to close a program.
WindowsKey + L to lock my workstation
Ctr-Shift-Ins to copy text from a textbox
Alt-Print Screen to capture a shot of just a window
WindowsKey + R to open the "Run" dialog (XP Pro only- does something else on XP Home)
Win-D to minimize all applications
Ctrl-Shift-Esc to open Task Manager
Win-L to lock the computer..
To maximize a window: Alt+Space, X
To restore a window: Alt+Space, R
To minimize a window: Alt+Space, N
To close a window: Alt+Space, C
I try to stick to my keyboard as well. I frequently use...
Win+L to Lock my system
Alt+F4 to close a program
Win+R to launch from the Run Window (Used for frequent programs instead of going through QuickLaunch)
F2 to rename a file
Win+D to go to Desktop
Alt+Tab and Alt+Tab+Shift to cycle through open programs
Visual Studio
Alt, D (debug), P (process), W (webdev process)
Alt, T (Tools), P (process), W (webdev process) for VS 2008
Alt, M, O to collapse to definitions
F5 to launch
F9, F10, and F11 for stepping through debugger
Alt+K, D to format a document
Alt+K, C to comment
Alt+K, U to uncomment
Browser
Alt+W to close tab
F6 to focus on the address bar
How is this not here?
+Pause to System Information. Then the system PATH variable is only 2 clicks away (Advanced system settings,Environment Variables...)
F4 in windows explorer to access the location bar trivially.
Menu key (next to the right-hand windows key) + W + F to create a new folder in explorer.
Win + E to open an Windows Explorer reference
Win + R from the Run box
Ctrl + Esc to open the start menu
And, of course, Alt + F4 to close things.
A few basic keyboard shortcuts for clipboard operations, text selection, and navigation that work in most Windows programs:
Clipboard
Ctrl+X - Clipboard Cut
Ctrl+C - Clipboard Copy
Ctrl+V - Clipboard Paste
Selecting Text
Ctrl+A - Select All (in the current field or document)
Shift+[navigate with ▲/▼, Home/End, or Pg Up/Pg Dn] - Select text between the caret's previous and new positions. Continue to hold Shift and navigate to select more text.
Navigation
Ctrl+left arrow / Ctrl+right arrow - Move the caret to the previous/next word
Ctrl+Home / Ctrl+End - Go to beginning/end of the current field or document
Bonus Tip!
Before submitting a web form where you've entered a lot of text into a text field (for example, an email in a web-based mail client -- or a new question or answer on Stack Overflow!), do a quick Ctrl+A, Ctrl+C on the field. That way, if something goes wrong with the submit (even if the browser crashes), you haven't lost your work -- you have a copy of it sitting on the clipboard.
Ctrl+Shift+Esc to go straight to the task manager without any intermediate dialogs.
In calc, F5, F6, F7, F8 cycle between Hex, Dec, Oct, Bin mode.
I use the free AutoHotKey, then I define my own shortcuts:
dobule tap F4 quickly => Close active Windows (like Alt+F4 but with one finger only)
double tap Right Alt quickly => Find and Run Robot task manager
F12 => open Find and Run Robot Locate32 plugin (I use it like a very lightweight desktop search)
Ctrl+Up / Down in a command window => scroll back / forward command line like the mouse wheel
Ctrl+w in a command windows => close window
etc.
For when you have a window stuck under an appbar and can't get at that window's system menu to move it:
alt-spacebar -> M -> arrow keys -> return
On Windows Vista, if you bring up the Start menu and search for a program, pressing Ctrl+Shift+Enter will run the selected program as Administrator. So to open an Administrator command prompt:
Windows key, type "cmd", Ctrl+Shift+Enter
My personal favourite is WinKey, U, Enter - shuts Windows down! ;-)
win+M to minimise all. Useful for quick trips to the desktop.
+[type name of program] to launch a program in Vista
+E for explorer
+F for find
Alt+Tab to swap between programs
Ctrl+Tab to swawp between tabs
Not really a 'Windows' shortcut, but the Ctrl+Alt+numpad and Ctrl+Alt+[arrows] to move and resize windows and move them to another monitor using WinSplit Revolution are absolutely great. I would never use large or multiple monitors without them.
Ctrl + Shift + ESC : Run Task Manager
Ctrl/Shift + Insert : Copy/Paste
Shift + Delete : Cut (text)
Win + L : Lock System
Win + R : Run
Ctrl + Pause Break : Break Loop (Programming)
Ctrl + Tab : Tab Change
Win+Pause/Break for System Properties
Win+E: open windows explorer
Win+F: find
Win+R: run
Win+M: minimize all windows
Win+Shift+M: restore all windows
Alt+F4: close program
Alt+Tab: switch between tasks
Ctrl+Alt+Del: task manager
Repeat Ctrl + Alt + Del Twice!
Many say that Win-D minimises all applications. Not true. It simply shows the desktop. Use Win-M to minimise all open windows. Use Win-Shift-M to restore them to their previous state.
By the way, did you notice that the Sift key can be combined with most of the usual shortcuts? e.g. Alt+Tab : cycle through applications 1->2->3->4->...1 Add Shift to the shortcut and you will be cycling in the opposite direction 1<-2<-3<-4<- ...1
Control+Tab to switch between Tabs in most Windows applications (sadly not in Eclipse) - you can already guess what Ctr+Shift+Tab will do. Especially handy in Firefox, IE, etc... where you have more than one Tab open and try going to the previous one. Very handy.
And one more tip, this is soooo handy, I love it. Only found out about it a couple of weeks ago:
FireFox users: tired of rightclick->Open Link in New Tab?
Click a link with MIDDLE mouse button and it will open in a new tab (depends on your Tabs settings in Tools->Options but by default would work). The magical thing about this is that it works even for the browser's Back button! Also when you type a search term into the Google box (usually in top right corner) and middle-click the search button, the search results are opened in a new tab. Closing tabs is also much easier with the middle mouse button (of course you can do Ctrl+W but sometimes the mouse is simply in your hand). You don't have to click the tab's red button to close it. Simply middle-click anywhere on the tab and it will be closed.
EDIT
I just tried the middle button in IE 7 and seems to work just like it does in FF, except for the Back-button and Search widget.
Ctrl + Shift + Esc -> Open Task Manager
Ctrl + W -> closes windows in MDIs where Ctrl+F4 doesn't work
Those and the Win + Number is Vista are used constantly.
Also a nice trick is Win + Tab -> cycles through program groups on task bar in Windows Xp and Server 2003. (i.e. same as Vista without the previews).
It's not a keyboard shortcut, but my favourite trick is to bind the large thumb button on the rat to move window, the smaller thumb button to resize. That way, windows can be moved and resized very easily and naturally. You can probably to that in windows too.
As for keyboard tricks, I use right ctrl+keypad to pick (one of nine) virtual screens. Very quick and natural.
In any dialog with tabs, Ctrl-Page Up/Down to cycle between the tabs.
Not really an answer, but a hint for a good source to look from - if no one cited it above wikipedia has all ( for the most important OS's) - not the best
I don't have favorites among keyboard shortcuts -- they are all utility entities to me...
Except for +L, which means another coffee break!
Windows
Windows right click key, next to the right alt can be very useful.
For the noobs,
tab and shift-tab to cycle through inputs
alt-tab and alt-shift-tab to cycle through the windows
ctrl-tab and alt-shift-tab to cycle through the tabs
ctrl-printscreen to snapshot the entire screen
and alt-printscreen to snapshot the current window
for some dialog windows ctrl-c will copy the message
Console
alt-space then e,p to paste in windows console
alt-space then e,k to mark in console
tab and shifttab to cycle autocomplete in console
Visual Studio
ctrl-shift-f Search in files
ctrl-f Search page
F12 Goto definition of the current word
F2 Rename selected text
F4 Open properties tab for selected
Highlight section and tab or shifttab Indent a block of text
ctrl-k,d Format Document
ctrl-k,c Comment out highlighted text
ctrl-k,u,c Un-comment highlighted text
ctrl-m,o Collapse to definitions
ctrl-m,m Toggle open and close the current method/function
ctrl-alt,l Open solution pane
ctrl-alt,o Open output pane
and of course ctrl-space for intellisense
My favourites are the following (which I have not been able to spot in the responses above):
F12 Save as in Office applications
Ctrl + Home Scroll to the top of the page in most applications or go to cell A1 in Excel
Ctrl + Delete Go back to the cursor in a Word document or back to the active cell in Excel
Ctrl + Shift + End Select a whole table in Excel from its top-left corner. If the table starts at A1, use in conjunction with the above for super speedy one-handed table selecting
It's already been said, but I'm repeating F6 to go directly to the browser address bar because it rocks!