Mac Text Editing Shortcuts for a PC User

By rcgrabbag | Mar 14, 2008

Posted in: General

Being a programmer way back when (still dabble today), moving around code quickly and changing code text was a necessity. As a long time PC user, I got used to using various combinations of Shift, Ctrl, Alt, and the arrow keys to move, jump to, and highlight text. As a recent blogger and newcomer to Mac, I still need to be able to edit text with shortcuts, but I’ve been all thumbs when it comes to these simple tasks on the Mac. So here’s my short list of Mac text navigation shortcuts.

Skip to end/beginning of line: command + right/left arrow
Skip to next/previous word: option + right/left arrow
Highlight next/previous word: option + shift + right/left arrow
Highlight to end/beginning of line: command + shift + right/left arrow
Highlight next/previous line: shift + down/up arrow
Highlight next/previous character: shift + right/left arrow

Now, you might find this list of little value. I, however, will probably be this page’s most frequent visitor for some time.