As a developer, I’ve already used many different text editors such as Atom, Sublime Text, and Notepad++. But in Visual Studio Code (VSCode) I see a powerful tool for making websites.
Frequently, I’m asked by my team about certain shortcuts in VSCode. In this blog post, I’m going to share some of the most useful shortcuts that I use.
Format code
This shortcut helps to put your code in the correct format. Of course, you first need to edit your formatting settings in the editor. To apply the shortcut, you have to press:
- On Windows:
Shift + Alt + F - On Mac:
⇧ + ⌥ + F - On Linux:
Ctrl + Shift + I
Show command palette
This is one of the most useful commands that I know. With this command, you can run an extension or figure out its shortcuts.
- On Windows:
Ctrl + Alt + P - On Mac:
⇧ + ⌘ + P - On Linux:
Ctrl + Shift + P
Move line up/down
In order to move a line up or down, use the following shortcut:
- On Windows:
Alt + Up/Down - On Mac:
⌥ + Up/Down - On Linux:
Alt + Up/Down
Duplicate cursor
This shortcut helps you a lot when you need to type in different lines.
- On Windows:
Ctrl + Alt + Up/Down - On Mac:
Command + Alt + Up/Down - On Linux:
Ctrl + Alt + Up/Down
Also, if you keep pressed Ctrl + Alt and click with your mouse in any line, you’ll duplicate the cursor several times in the respective lines.
Select word
With this shortcut, you can select the word under your cursor.
- On Windows:
Ctrl+ D - On Mac:
⌘ + D - On Linux:
Ctrl + D
If you press Ctrl + D more than once, you’ll add another occurrence of the same keyword to your selection.
Open and close the sidebar
This shortcut allows you to open and close the sidebar immediately.
- On Windows:
Ctrl+ B - On Mac:
⌘ + B - On Linux:
Ctrl + B
In some situations, this will help you a lot - especially when you have a very long code snippet.
Go to a specific line
With this shortcut, you can go to a specific line in the file that you have opened.
- On Windows:
Ctrl + G - On Mac:
⌃ + G - On Linux:
Ctrl + G
Remove a line
This is how to remove the full line under your cursor:
- On Windows:
Ctrl + X - On Mac:
⌘ + X - On Linux:
Ctrl + X
Open new terminal
VSCode has the possibility of an internal terminal. This means that you can run shell commands without losing your focus in the editor.
- On Windows:
Ctrl + Shift + ` - On Mac:
⌃ + Shift + ` - On Linux:
Ctrl + Shift + `
Show/hide terminal
This shortcut allows you to show and hide the VSCode’s terminal without losing your entries.
- On Windows:
Ctrl + ` - On Mac:
⌃ + ` - On Linux:
Ctrl + `
Go to file
With this shortcut, you can go to a specific file in your project.
- On Windows:
Ctrl + P - On Mac:
⌘ + P - On Linux:
Ctrl + P
Open Settings
If you’d like to change your VSCode settings, you can go with this shortcut.
- On Windows:
Ctrl + , - On Mac:
⌘ + , - On Linux:
Ctrl + ,
Select current line
You can select the full line under your cursor.
- On Windows:
Ctrl + L - On Mac:
⌘ + L - On Linux:
Ctrl + L
Overview of all available shortcuts
There are more shortcuts available, and maybe some of the ones above are different in your Linux distribution (I use Ubuntu).
But don’t worry, you can check all of them and even customize them.
You only need to go to File -> Preferences -> Keyboard Shortcuts.
On the website of VSCode, you can find a PDF with all available shortcuts for your operating system:
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