keyboard shortcuts

I’m always looking to improve my setup for maximum productivity and a better keyboard-only workflow.

The shortcuts listed here are in no particular order.

I use a Brazilian ABNT2 keyboard layout.

Windows / task management

  • ctrl+', alt+' - switch to Windows Terminal, or open a new instance if closed. Mapped with AutoHotkey.
  • ctrl+[1-9], alt+[1-9] - switch to the i-th program in the taskbar. If it doesn’t exist and the i-th position is a pinned program, open a new instance of that program. Mapped with AutoHotkey.
  • altgr+tab, win+tab, alt+/ - same as alt tab, but don’t close the list of programs. I can then navigate through the open programs using the arrow keys or typing the window name using Fuzzy search. Uses Alt-Tab Terminator.
  • alt+0 - open FluentSearch. This is my preferred way of browsing files in my PC using fuzzy search.
  • alt+- - minimize current program. Mapped with AutoHotkey.
  • alt-F4 - close current program. I am looking for a good replacement for this that doesn’t interfere with program-specific keybindings. Moving my hand to F4 is clunky.
  • alt+up, alt+down - press up or down 4 times. Allows to move around faster when editing, and works with all programs. Mapped with AutoHotkey.
  • ctrl+up, ctrl+down - press ctrl+up or ctrl+down 4 times. Allows for faster scrolling, and works with all programs. Mapped with AutoHotkey.
  • ctrl+shift+i - insert formatted current date anywhere. Looks like this: “2024-02-25”, and can be tweaked. Mapped with AutoHotkey.
  • alt+q - close current tab. Mapped with AutoHotkey to work on pdf viewers, web browsers, and other programs that have tabs, since not all allow remapping this command.
  • alt+right, alt+left - go to tab on the right/left. Same idea as alt+q.

Coding

These are for VSCode and Visual Studio.

  • shift+delete - delete current line without copying it
  • ctrl+w - select word under cursor
  • ctrl+l - extend line selection
  • ctrl+shift+2 - duplicate tab and split right
  • alt+ç,alt+~ - move tab to right/left editor (or split right/left)
  • ctrl+alt+right, ctrl+alt+left - swap focus between right and left side editors. For VS2022 I use a hack to achieve this, as it doesn’t have the correct keybindings: an AutoHotkey function that moves the mouse to the left/right, clicks, then moves it back to where it was originally.
  • alt+´ - cycle between left and right editors
  • ctrl+j, alt+j - toggle in-editor terminal
  • alt+d - toggle left panel
  • F12 - go to definition. If we are at the definition, go to implementation.
  • F11 - go back
  • ctrl+n, ctrl+t - new empty tab
  • alt+s - go to symbol in workspace/solution
  • alt+m - go to symbol in current file
  • alt+p - go to file
  • ctrl+g,alt+g - go to line
  • ctrl+shift+p - editor command. VSCode only.
  • alt+q - close current tab
  • alt+w - toggle word wrap
  • F2 - rename
  • alt+o - swap between source/header (C/C++)
  • ctrl+[, alt+[, shift+alt+right (experimental) - expand selection
  • ctrl+], alt+], shift+alt+left (experimental) - shrink selection
  • ctrl+d - duplicate current line
  • shift+alt+up, shift+alt+down - add new cursor above/below
  • ctrl+i - open copilot prompt
  • alt+k - show hover tip under cursor
  • ctrl+b, alt+b, ctrl+m (experimental) - jump to closing bracket of current scope. If at closing bracket, jump instead to the corresponding open bracket.
  • ctrl+shift+b, alt+shift+b, ctrl+shift+m (experimental) - similar to above, but jump while selecting text
  • ctrl+l, alt+l - format selected text. If nothing is selected, format current line
  • ctrl+shift+f - find all references
  • ctrl+shift+l - format file
  • ctrl+, - show format actions
  • ctrl+., alt+. - toggle fold/unfold
  • ctrl+;, alt+;, ctrl+/ - toggle line comment
  • ctrl+shift+;, ctrl+shift+/ - toggle block comment
  • F7 - focus on code editor (if previously focused on another panel)
  • shift+alt+e - toggle build errors panel
  • shift+alt+o - toggle build output panel
  • shift+alt+k - toggle VisualAssist find reference results. VS2022 only.
  • F5 - start debugging (VS2022 only)

Web browsing

  • alt+q - close current tab
  • alt+right, alt+left - go to tab on the right/left
  • ctrl+t - open new tab
  • F6 - move to url edit
  • I use Vimium for Firefox to browse the web with keyboard only. Besides the default Vimium shortcuts, I use:
    • g - open link in new tab, and don’t switch to it
    • ql - close tabs to the left
    • qr - close tabs to the right
    • w - scroll up
    • s - scroll down
    • d - scroll half page down
    • a - scroll half page up
    • I particularly like using ‘wasd’ here since when I browse with the mouse, it allows to quickly move around the page with my left hand.

Gaming

  • Tibia
    • I have a complex AutoHotkey script to allow playing Tibia keyboard-only. Doing this is somewhat controversial in the game’s community. Some people consider this cheating (I don’t).
  • Stardew Valley
    • h - left click. To avoid right hand fatigue.
    • g - right click. To avoid right hand fatigue.
    • Home - toggle inventory.
    • mouse side 1, mouse side 2 - left click + animation cancelling
    • mouse middle - spam right click 8 times
  • Any grand-strategy game (e.g. EU4, CK3):
    • n - left click. To avoid right hand fatigue.
    • m - right click. To avoid right hand fatigue.
  • Any first-person game (e.g. Skyrim, Minecraft)
    • c, mouse side 1, mouse side 2 - hold left click until I press c again
    • alt+w - hold w until I press w again
    • remap shift for running and ctrl for crouching/stalking

Unused

Unused hotkeys that I’d like to use in the future.

  • ctrl+Enter when editing
  • shift+Enter when editing
  • ctrl+q
  • alt+e
  • alt+r - currently set to “rename”, but I use F2 much more.
  • ctrl+u, alt+u
  • ctrl+o
  • ctrl+p?
  • alt+f
  • alt+n
  • alt+=
  • better use of F keys
  • altgr is underused. Unfortunately most programs won’t let you remap it, so this has to be done using AutoHotkey.

TODO

  • Improve file exploration setup. I’m bad at this.
  • A way to move programs around in the taskbar using the keyboard.
  • Alternatives to ctrl+right and ctrl+left for moving around a line more efficiently, akin to w, e and b in vim.
  • Code bookmarks?
  • Use less LCtrl. I have short hands and get fatigue from using this key repeatedly.
  • Hotkey to jump to next open/closing brace/square bracket/parenthesis.
  • Hotkey to jump to next/previous code block.
  • Find a way to allow VSCode to duplicate current tab inside the same tab group.