defaultkeys.md

Default Keys

Below are simple charts of the default hotkeys and their functions. For more information about binding custom hotkeys or changing default bindings, please run > help keybindings

Please remember that all keys here are rebindable! If you don't like it, you can change it!

Power user

Key	Description of function
Ctrl-e	Open a command prompt for running commands (see > help commands for a list of valid commands).
Tab	In command prompt, it will autocomplete if possible.
Ctrl-b	Run a shell command (this will close micro while your command executes).

Navigation

Key	Description of function
Arrows	Move the cursor around
Shift-arrows	Move and select text
Alt(Ctrl on Mac)-LeftArrow	Move to the beginning of the current line
Alt(Ctrl on Mac)-RightArrow	Move to the end of the current line
Home	Move to the beginning of text on the current line
End	Move to the end of the current line
Ctrl(Alt on Mac)-LeftArrow	Move cursor one word left
Ctrl(Alt on Mac)-RightArrow	Move cursor one word right
Alt-{	Move cursor to previous empty line, or beginning of document
Alt-}	Move cursor to next empty line, or end of document
PageUp	Move cursor up one page
PageDown	Move cursor down one page
Ctrl-Home or Ctrl-UpArrow	Move cursor to start of document
Ctrl-End or Ctrl-DownArrow	Move cursor to end of document
Ctrl-l	Jump to a line in the file (prompts with #)
Ctrl-w	Cycle between splits in the current tab (use > vsplit or > hsplit to create a split)

Tabs

Key	Description of function
Ctrl-t	Open a new tab
Alt-,	Previous tab
Alt-.	Next tab

Find Operations

Key	Description of function
Ctrl-f	Find (opens prompt)
Ctrl-n	Find next instance of current search
Ctrl-p	Find previous instance of current search

Note: Ctrl-n and Ctrl-p should be used from the main buffer, not from inside the search prompt. After Ctrl-f, press enter to complete the search and then you can use Ctrl-n and Ctrl-p to cycle through matches.

File Operations

Key	Description of function
Ctrl-q	Close current file (quits micro if this is the last file open)
Ctrl-o	Open a file (prompts for filename)
Ctrl-s	Save current file

Text operations

Key	Description of function
Ctrl(Alt on Mac)-Shift-RightArrow	Select word right
Ctrl(Alt on Mac)-Shift-LeftArrow	Select word left
Alt(Ctrl on Mac)-Shift-LeftArrow	Select to start of current line
Alt(Ctrl on Mac)-Shift-RightArrow	Select to end of current line
Shift-Home	Select to start of current line
Shift-End	Select to end of current line
Ctrl-Shift-UpArrow	Select to start of file
Ctrl-Shift-DownArrow	Select to end of file
Ctrl-x	Cut selected text
Ctrl-c	Copy selected text
Ctrl-v	Paste
Ctrl-k	Cut current line
Ctrl-d	Duplicate current line
Ctrl-z	Undo
Ctrl-y	Redo
Alt-UpArrow	Move current line or selected lines up
Alt-DownArrow	Move current line or selected lines down
Alt-Backspace or Alt-Ctrl-h	Delete word left
Ctrl-a	Select all
Tab	Indent selected text
Shift-Tab	Unindent selected text

Macros

Key	Description of function
Ctrl-u	Toggle macro recording (press Ctrl-u to start recording and press again to stop)
Ctrl-j	Run latest recorded macro

Multiple cursors

Key	Description of function
Alt-n	Create new multiple cursor from selection (will select current word if no current selection)
Alt-Shift-Up	Spawn a new cursor on the line above the current one
Alt-Shift-Down	Spawn a new cursor on the line below the current one
Alt-p	Remove latest multiple cursor
Alt-c	Remove all multiple cursors (cancel)
Alt-x	Skip multiple cursor selection
Alt-m	Spawn a new cursor at the beginning of every line in the current selection
Ctrl-MouseLeft	Place a multiple cursor at any location

Other

Key	Description of function
Ctrl-g	Open help file
Ctrl-h	Backspace (old terminals do not support the backspace key and use Ctrl+H instead)
Ctrl-r	Toggle the line number ruler

Emacs style actions

Key	Description of function
Alt-f	Next word
Alt-b	Previous word
Alt-a	Move to start of line
Alt-e	Move to end of line

Function keys.

Warning! The function keys may not work in all terminals!

Key	Description of function
F1	Open help
F2	Save
F3	Find
F4	Quit
F7	Find
F10	Quit