Keyboard Shortcuts Reference

A comprehensive guide to essential keyboard shortcuts

Created

January 1, 2023

Modified

July 30, 2025

Master your workflow with essential keyboard shortcuts across popular development tools and applications.

VSCode

Pro Tip

VSCode has excellent keyboard shortcut customization. Press Cmd/Ctrl + K Cmd/Ctrl + S to access the Keyboard Shortcuts editor.

General Commands

Action Mac Windows
Command Palette Cmd + Shift + P Ctrl + Shift + P
Open Settings Cmd + , Ctrl + ,
Keyboard Shortcuts Cmd + K Cmd + S Ctrl + K Ctrl + S
Toggle Sidebar Cmd + B Ctrl + B
Full Screen Cmd + Ctrl + F F11
Open File Cmd + P Ctrl + P
New Window Cmd + Shift + N Ctrl + Shift + N
Close Window Cmd + Shift + W Ctrl + Shift + W

Terminal Management

Terminal Management
Toggle Terminal Cmd + ` Ctrl + `
Create New Terminal Cmd + Shift + ` Ctrl + Shift + `
Navigate Between Terminals Cmd + Shift + [ / ] Ctrl + PgUp / PgDn
Split Terminal Cmd + \ Ctrl + \
Navigate Between Split Terminal Cmd + Option + ← / → Alt + ↑ / ↓

Editor Management

Editor Management
Close Tab Cmd + W Ctrl + W
Split Editor Cmd + \ Ctrl + \
Navigate Tabs Cmd + Shift + Tab Ctrl + Shift + Tab
Navigate Tab Groups Cmd + 1 / 2 / 3 Ctrl + 1 / 2 / 3

Text Manipulation

Text Manipulation
Add Multiple Cursors Cmd + Option + ↑ / ↓ Ctrl + Alt + ↑ / ↓
Scroll horizontal Shift + Mouse wheel Shift + Mouse wheel
Select Text Cmd + Shift + ↑ / ↓ Ctrl + Shift + ↑ / ↓
Move Line Up/Down Option + ↑ / ↓ Alt + ↑ / ↓
Copy Line Up/Down Shift + Option + ↑ / ↓ Shift + Alt + ↑ / ↓
Select Word Cmd + D Ctrl + D
Select Current Line Cmd + L Ctrl + L
Select All Occurrences Cmd + Shift + L Ctrl + Shift + L
Delete Current Line Cmd + Shift + K Ctrl + Shift + K
Delete Word Backward Option + Backspace Ctrl + Backspace
Comment/Uncomment Lines Cmd + / Ctrl + /

Code Formatting

Code Formatting
Code Folding Cmd + Option + [ / ] Ctrl + Shift + [ / ]
Indent/Outdent Lines Cmd + [ / ] Ctrl + [ / ]
Format Selected Code Cmd + K Cmd + F Ctrl + K Ctrl + F
Format Document Shift + Option + F Shift + Alt + F

Shell

📖 About Terminal Shortcuts

These shortcuts work in most Unix-like terminals including Terminal.app on macOS, GNOME Terminal, and Windows Terminal with WSL.

Cursor Movement

Action Shortcut
Move to the beginning of line Ctrl + A
Move to the end of line Ctrl + E
Move one word backward Opt + ←
Move one word forward Opt + →
Move one character backward ←
Move one character forward →
Jump to the start of buffer Alt + <
Jump to the end of buffer Alt + >

Text Editing

Text Editing Shortcut
Delete the current line Ctrl + U
Delete to end of the line Ctrl + K
Clear the screen Ctrl + L
Delete one word backward Ctrl + W
Delete one character forward Ctrl + D
Delete one character forward Fn + Backspace
Delete one character backward Backspace
Delete from cursor to start Alt + Backspace
Delete from cursor to word end Alt + D

Process Management

Process Management Shortcut
Terminate a process Ctrl + C
Suspend a process Ctrl + Z
Exit the shell Ctrl + D
Send process to background Ctrl + Z then bg
Bring background process to fg fg

History & Commands

History & Commands Shortcut
Undo the last change Ctrl + _
Recall previous command ↑
Recall next command ↓
Search command history Ctrl + R
Exit history search Ctrl + G
Show history history
Run the last command !!
Run last pw command !pw
Run command # from history !<number>

Auto-Completion & Misc

Auto-Completion & Misc Shortcut
Auto-complete command TAB
List matching commands TAB TAB
Cycle through matches TAB TAB TAB...
Open last edited command Ctrl + X Ctrl + E
Transpose two characters Ctrl + T
Capitalize word at cursor Alt + C
Convert word to lowercase Alt + L
Convert word to uppercase Alt + U
Swap position with prev word Ctrl + W Alt + T

Vim

⚠️ Vim Modal Editor

Vim is a modal editor. Remember to press Esc to return to Normal mode before using most commands.

Modes

Action Shortcut
Insert mode i
Insert at beginning of line I
Insert new line below o
Insert new line above O
Append after cursor a
Append at end of line A
Command mode (normal) Esc
Visual mode (select text) v
Visual line mode V
Visual block mode Ctrl + v

File Operations

Action Shortcut
Save :w
Quit :q
Save and quit :wq
Quit without saving :q!
Save and quit (shortcut) ZZ
Quit without saving (shortcut) ZQ

Search & Replace

Search & Replace Shortcut
Search text /text
Next match n
Previous match N
Search backward ?text
Search current word *

Editing

Editing Shortcut
Delete char x
Delete line dd
Delete word dw
Delete to end of line d$
Delete to start of line d0
Copy line yy
Copy word yw
Paste after cursor p
Paste before cursor P
Undo u
Redo Ctrl + r
Change text c
Replace char r
Join line with next J

Window Management

Window Management Shortcut
Split window horizontally :split
Split window vertically :vsplit
Move left split Ctrl + w, h
Move down split Ctrl + w, j
Move up split Ctrl + w, k
Move right split Ctrl + w, l
Increase window size :resize +N
Decrease window size :resize -N
Open new tab :tabnew
Next tab :tabnext
Previous tab :tabprev

Tmux

Tmux Configuration

Consider adding these aliases to your shell configuration for quick tmux access. :::

# Terminal aliases for tmux
alias t="tmux"
alias ta="t a -t"
alias tls="t ls"
alias tn="t new -s"
alias tk="t kill-session -t"
alias tks="t kill-server"
🔧 Custom Prefix Key

Change the default prefix in .tmux.conf:

set-option -g prefix C-a
bind-key C-a send-prefix

Session Management

Action Command/Shortcut
List sessions tmux list-sessions
Attach to session tmux attach-session -t target-session
Switch between sessions Ctrl + A + s
Switch to latest session Ctrl + A + l
Detach from session Ctrl + A + d

Window Management

Action Shortcut
List all windows Ctrl + A + w
Rename current window Ctrl + A + ,
Switch to next window Ctrl + A + →
Switch to previous window Ctrl + A + ←
Create new window Ctrl + A + c
Kill current window Ctrl + A + q

Pane Management

Action Shortcut
Switch to pane above Shift + ↑
Switch to pane below Shift + ↓
Switch to pane left Shift + ←
Switch to pane right Shift + →
Kill current pane Ctrl + A + x

Copy Mode

Action Shortcut
Enter copy mode Drag mouse to select text
Paste copied text Ctrl + A + ]

Screen

💡 Screen Aliases

Add these aliases to your shell configuration for easier screen management.

# Terminal aliases for screen
alias s="screen"       # start a screen session
alias ss="s -S"        # start a named screen session
alias sr="s -r"        # reattach to a screen session
alias sls="s -ls"      # list current running screen sessions

Basic Commands

Action Command
Start screen session screen
Start named session screen -S session_name
Reattach to session screen -r
List running sessions screen -ls

Window Management

Action Shortcut
Create new window Ctrl + A + C
Kill current window Ctrl + A + K
List all windows Ctrl + A + W
Go to window 0-9 Ctrl + A + 0-9
Go to next window Ctrl + A + N
Toggle between windows Ctrl + A + Ctrl + A
Rename current window Ctrl + A + A

Region Management

Action Shortcut
Split horizontally Ctrl + A + S
Split vertically Ctrl + A + \|
Switch between regions Ctrl + A + Tab
Close all regions but current Ctrl + A + Q
Close current region Ctrl + A + X

Session & Copy Mode

Action Shortcut
Detach from session Ctrl + A + D
Start copy mode Ctrl + A + [
Paste copied text Ctrl + A + ]
Show help Ctrl + A + ?
Quit screen Ctrl + A + Ctrl + \
Additional Resources