TopolearnThese few shortcuts cover most day-to-day editing and save hundreds of keystrokes per day.
Multiple cursors let you type in several places at once:
Alt+Click(Option+Click on macOS) adds a cursor.Ctrl+Dselects the next occurrence of the current word or selection, adding a cursor; repeat to add more,Ctrl+K Ctrl+Dskips one.Ctrl+Shift+Lselects all occurrences.Ctrl+Alt+Up/Down(Option+Cmd+Up/Down on macOS) adds cursors on the lines above or below;Shift+Alt+ drag makes a column selection.
Line operations: Alt+Up/Down moves the current line, Shift+Alt+Up/Down copies it, Ctrl+Shift+K deletes it, Ctrl+/ toggles a comment, Ctrl+Enter inserts a line below.
IntelliSense suggests completions as you type, using the language service for the file type; Ctrl+Space triggers it manually and Ctrl+Shift+Space shows parameter hints. The quality depends on the language extension (for example Pylance for Python).
Code actions: a light bulb, or Ctrl+., offers quick fixes such as adding a missing import. F2 renames a symbol across files safely, unlike find-and-replace. Shift+Alt+F formats the document (Ctrl+Shift+I on Linux) with the configured formatter.
Use Ctrl+D for "change this variable here and in the next few places" and F2 when you want every reference in the project.
Example
# rename three occurrences of 'item' to 'product':
# double-click 'item', Ctrl+D, Ctrl+D, then type 'product'
# add a semicolon to 5 lines:
# Ctrl+Alt+Down x4, End, type ';'
# Alt+Up / Alt+Down move line
# Shift+Alt+Down duplicate line below
# Ctrl+/ toggle line comment
# Ctrl+Space trigger suggestions
# Ctrl+. quick fix (e.g. add import)
# F2 rename symbol project-wide
# Shift+Alt+F format documentRemember
- Ctrl+D adds the next occurrence; Ctrl+Shift+L selects all
- Alt+Up/Down moves lines, Ctrl+/ comments
- F2 renames semantically; Ctrl+. shows quick fixes
Watch out for
- Using Ctrl+Shift+L or find-and-replace to rename a variable; it also hits unrelated text. Use F2.