This is an excerpt from my blog. For the full article please go here.

Mastering keyboard shortcuts can significantly enhance your productivity on macOS. These shortcuts are versatile and work in nearly any text field across various macOS apps, including browsers. Moreover, many of these shortcuts can be combined, offering even more powerful text navigation and editing capabilities.

[BONUS] Vim Equivalents:

Many power users and coders may be familiar with Vim, which is a powerful text editor. All of these features are already available in Vim, or any editor that supports Vim key bindings, but if you are using an app that does not support Vim key bindings, then you do not have access to those features. On the other hand, the keyboard shortcuts, below, are available in almost every app in macOS. Non-Vim users can experience many (definitely not all) of the powerful features that Vim users already enjoy, except across the operating system, and without the obtuse syntax. For learning purposes, I'll include the Vim equivalents in this article.

Clarifying Key Names and Symbols

Before diving into the shortcuts, let's clarify the different names and symbols used for macOS keys. This article will use the following terms for consistency:

  • Command (CMD): Sometimes represented by ⌘.
  • Option (Opt): Also known as Alt, represented by ⌥.
  • Control (Ctrl): Represented by ^.
  • Shift: Represented by ⇧.

The CMD Key

The CMD key, or Command key, is central to many macOS shortcuts. Here are some essential text navigation commands using the CMD key:

  • CMD + (←): Jump to the start of the line (equivalent to the HOME key on Windows).
  • CMD + (→): Jump to the end of the line (equivalent to the END key on Windows).
  • CMD + (↑): Jump to the start of the text field.
  • CMD + (↓): Jump to the end of the text field.

Equivalent VIM Commands:

  • CMD + (←): ^ (move to the start of the line).
  • CMD + (→): $ (move to the end of the line).
  • CMD + (↑): gg (move to the top of the file).
  • CMD + (↓): G (move to the bottom of the file).

The Option Key

The Option key provides another layer of text navigation precision. It allows you to move the cursor by "word". What is a "word"? It depends on the editor you're using, but usually the cursor will move up to the next space character. Sometimes it will stop at special characters such as ( or { . Here's how you can use it:

  • Opt + (←): Jump to the beginning of the current or previous word. If you are in the middle of a word, this shortcut will take you to the start of that word; otherwise, it will jump to the start of the previous word.
  • Opt + (→): Jump to the beginning of the next word.
  • Opt + (↑): This works similarly to CMD + (↑), jumping to the start of the text field.
  • Opt + (↓): This works similarly to CMD + (↓), jumping to the end of the text field.

Equivalent VIM Commands:

  • Opt + (←): b (move back one word).
  • Opt + (→): w (move forward one word).
  • Opt + (↑): gg (move to the top of the file).
  • Opt + (↓): G (move to the bottom of the file).

The Shift Key

The Shift key is used to extend your selection while navigating text. Here are some useful combinations:

  • Shift + (←): Move the cursor left one character and highlight the text.
  • Shift + (→): Move the cursor right one character and highlight the text.
  • Shift + (↑): Move the cursor up one line and highlight the text.
  • Shift + (↓): Move the cursor down one line and highlight the text.

In other words, adding Shift to any of these commands tells macOS, "I want to move my cursor AND keep my current highlight."

Combining Shift with CMD and Option Keys

You can combine the Shift key with CMD or Option shortcuts to highlight larger sections of text quickly.

CMD + Shift Combinations

  • CMD + Shift + (←): Highlight from the cursor position to the start of the line.
  • CMD + Shift + (→): Highlight from the cursor position to the end of the line.
  • CMD + Shift + (↑): Highlight from the cursor position to the start of the text field.
  • CMD + Shift + (↓): Highlight from the cursor position to the end of the text field.

Equivalent VIM Commands:

  • CMD + Shift + (←): v + 0 (enter visual mode and move to the start of the line).
  • CMD + Shift + (→): v + $ (enter visual mode and move to the end of the line).
  • CMD + Shift + (↑): v + gg (enter visual mode and move to the top of the file).
  • CMD + Shift + (↓): v + G (enter visual mode and move to the bottom of the file).

Option + Shift Combinations

  • Option + Shift + (←): Highlight the word to the left of the cursor.
  • Option + Shift + (→): Highlight the word to the right of the cursor.
  • Option + Shift + (↑): Highlight to the beginning of the paragraph or block of text (similar to CMD + Shift + (←)).
  • Option + Shift + (↓): Highlight to the end of the paragraph or block of text (similar to CMD + Shift + (→)).

Equivalent VIM Commands:

  • Option + Shift + (←): v + b (enter visual mode and move back one word).
  • Option + Shift + (→): v + w (enter visual mode and move forward one word).
  • Option + Shift + (↑): v + gg (enter visual mode and move to the top of the file).
  • Option + Shift + (↓): v + G (enter visual mode and move to the bottom of the file).

Multi-Cursor Editing in Xcode

For developers using Xcode, multi-cursor editing can be a game-changer. This feature allows you to create multiple cursors, making simultaneous edits in multiple places possible.

  • Ctrl + Shift + Click: Create another cursor where you clicked.
  • Ctrl + Shift + (↑): Move your cursor up and create a new cursor there.
  • Ctrl + Shift + (↓): Move your cursor down and create a new cursor there.
  • CMD + Opt + Enter: This keyboard shortcut is incredibly powerful! It does so many things at the same time and it is perfect for renaming variables or classes in code. Here's the workflow:
  • First, highlight something you would like to rename (i.e. "Find and Replace").
  • Then press CMD + Opt + Enter. It will find the next occurence of what you highlighted and highlight that as well.
  • You can press CMD + Opt + Enter many times and it will find more and more occurences and highlight them as well.
  • Now that you have all these highlights, you can make any edit you want to all of the highlights at the same time.
  • For example, to rename, simply start typing. Since multiple spots are highlighted, the highlighted text will be replaced with a cursor at each highlight.
  • Or if you just want to rename part of it, you can press ← and all of your cursors will move to the beginning of their highlight, and you can start typing there.

I hope you liked this excerpt from my blog. For the full article please go here.