Useful Shortcuts/Tips to Increase your Coding/Writing Speed

Julius Huck
2 min readJul 25, 2018

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The base idea behind the tips below is to let both hands stay on the keyboard so you don’t have to switch between keyboard and mouse.

Move the Cursor

  • Arrow Keys: Move in the text
  • Ctrl + Left Arrow/Right Arrow: Move over words — use to move faster
  • Pos1/End: Move to the line start/end
  • Depends on text editor: Create a multiple cursors — use to type in multiple lines or at multiple positions at the same time (Visual Studio: Shift + Ctrl + Up Arrow/Down Arrow)

Select Text

  • Use Shift to start a selection. Then move th cursor to set the end point for the selection
  • Ctrl + A: Select everything

Copy/Paste Text

  • Ctrl + C: Copy the selected text
  • Ctrl + V: Paste the copied text
  • Ctrl + X: Cut the selected text (Copy it and then delete it) — use to move text

Possible Combinations

You can combine these shortcuts to navigate and work very quickly. Here are some examples:

  • Shift + Up Arrow/Down Arrow: Select multiple lines
  • Shift + Left Arrow/Right Arrow: Select multiple letters
  • Shift + Ctrl + Left Arrow/Right Arrow: Select multiple words
  • Shift + Pos1/End: Select the line to the left/right

Other

  • Backspace: Remove the letter in front of the cursor
  • Delete: Remove the letter after the cursor
  • Depends on text editor: Remove the whole line (Visual Studio: Shift + Delete)

Tips

  • Move text: Select the text, cut the text, move the cursor, paste the text
  • Replace text: Select the text, start typing the new text

When you know other useful shortcuts you can post them in the comments and then I will add them.

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Julius Huck

I love constructing new ideas and turning them into reality. Full stack perfectionist developer and (web) designer. Be a creator not a consumer ✌️