Keyboard Navigation and Editing Shortcuts

The shortcuts in this list are the shortcuts that are recognized by every full text editor control in EditPad, such as the main editor, the search box, the replace box, the clip editor, etc.

Some of these shortcuts are also used by menu items. If you select the command from the menu, it will always work on the main editor. If you select the command by pressing the shortcut key combination, it will work on the editor that has input focus. This is the editor that shows the text cursor, the blinking vertical bar. This is true for all menu items listed below, but not for any other menu items.

All shortcuts that are used by menu items can be configured in Options|Preferences|Keyboard. All other shortcuts cannot be changed.

When a key combination only works in text mode, this is indicated by [text]. If it only works in hexadecimal mode, the indication is [hex].

Cursor navigation keys

Arrow key: Moves the text cursor (blinking vertical bar).

Ctrl+Arrow Left [text]: Moves the text cursor to the start of the previous word or the end of the previous line, whichever is closer.

Ctrl+Arrow Right [text]: Moves the text cursor to the start of the next word or the end of the current line, whichever is closer.

Ctrl+Arrow Up or Down: Scrolls the text one line up or down, or jumps to the next paragraph (your preference). When scrolling, the cursor moves along unless it’s at the top or bottom (configurable).

Ctrl+Alt+Arrow Up or Down: Moves the text cursor to the previous or next occurrence of the word under the text cursor.

Page Up or Down: Moves the text cursor up or down an entire screen.

Ctrl+Page Up or Down: Scrolls the text one screen up or down.

Alt+Page Up or Down: Scrolls the text to make the line with the cursor the last or the first visible line if the cursor is above or below the last or first visible line. Scrolls the text one screen up or down otherwise.

Home: Moves the text cursor to the beginning of the line. Can be configured to move to the first non-whitespace character of the line, and to the very start of the line after a second press.

Ctrl+Home: Moves the text cursor to the start of the entire text.

End: Moves the text cursor to the end of the line. Can be configured to move to the last non-whitespace character of the line, and to the very end of the line after a second press.

Ctrl+End: Moves the text cursor to the end of the entire text.

Shift+Navigation key: Moves the text cursor and expands or shrinks the selection towards the new text cursor position. If there was no selection, one is started. Pressing Ctrl as well moves the text cursor correspondingly.

Alt+Shift+Navigation [text]: The same as when Alt is not pressed, except that the selection will be rectangular instead of flowing along with the text.

Ctrl+]: Go|Go to Matching Bracket

Shift+Ctrl+[: Go|Go to Unmatched Bracket

Ctrl+[: Block|Between Matching Brackets

Any of the above key combinations that do not select part of the text remove the current selection (the selection, not the selected text) unless selections are persistent. Any key combination that moves the text cursor also causes the text to scroll to keep the text cursor in view if the move makes the text cursor invisible. Any key combination that scrolls the text lets the text cursor keep its position relative to the text, unless you chose to keep the text cursor in view while scrolling.

Editing commands

Enter: In the main editor: inserts a line break. In the search or replace box: searches for the next occurrence.

Shift+Enter: Inserts a line break.

Ctrl+Enter: Edit|Insert Page Break

Delete: Deletes the current selection if there is one and selections are not persistent. Otherwise, the character to the right of the text cursor is deleted.

Ctrl+Delete: Deletes the current selection if there is one. In text mode, if there is no selection, the part of the current word to the right of the text cursor is deleted. If the cursor is not on a word, all characters to the right of the cursor up to the start of the next word are deleted.

Shift+Ctrl+Delete: In text mode, all the text on the current line to the right of the text cursor is deleted. In hexadecimal mode, the selection is deleted.

Backspace: Deletes the current selection if there is one and selections are not persistent. Otherwise, the character to the left of the text cursor is deleted.

Ctrl+Backspace: Deletes the current selection if there is one and selections are not persistent. In text mode, if there is no selection, the part of the current word to the left of the text cursor is deleted. If the cursor is not on a word, all characters to the left of the cursor up to the start of the next word are deleted.

Shift+Ctrl+Backspace: Deletes the current selection if there is one and selections are not persistent. In text mode, if there is no selection, all the text on the current line to the left of the text cursor is deleted.

Alt+Backspace: Alternative shortcut for Edit|Undo

Alt+Shift+Backspace: Alternative shortcut for Edit|Redo

Ctrl+Z: Edit|Undo

Ctrl+Y: Edit|Redo

Insert: Toggles between insert and overwrite mode.

Tab: In text mode, if there is a selection, the entire selection is indented. If there is no selection, a tab is inserted. In hexadecimal mode, pressing Tab makes the text cursor switch between the hexadecimal side and text side.

Shift+Tab: In text mode, if there is a selection, the entire selection is unindented (outdented). If there is no selection and there is a tab, or a series of spaces the size of a tab, to the left of the text cursor, that tab or spaces are deleted.

Ctrl+A: Edit|Select All

Shift+F5: Go|Previous Editing Position

Ctrl+Alt+Y: Edit|Delete Line

Shift+Ctrl+Alt+Y: Edit|Duplicate Line

Shift+Ctrl+B: Block|Begin Selection

Shift+Ctrl+E: Block|End Selection

Shift+Ctrl+D: Block|Expand Selection

Ctrl+D: Block|Duplicate

Ctrl+M: Block|Move

Ctrl+Alt+B: Block|Go to Beginning

Ctrl+Alt+E: Block|Go to End

Shift+Ctrl+]: Edit|Insert Matching Bracket

Clipboard commands

Ctrl+X: Edit|Cut

Shift+Ctrl+X: Edit|Cut Append

Ctrl+C: Edit|Copy

Shift+Ctrl+C: Edit|Copy Append

Ctrl+V: Edit|Paste

Shift+Ctrl+V: Edit|Swap with Clipboard

Shift+Delete: Alternative shortcut for Edit|Cut

Ctrl+Insert: Alternative shortcut for Edit|Copy

Shift+Insert: Alternative shortcut for Edit|Paste

Search Toolbar

Some of the search options on the search toolbar have Alt+letter access key shortcuts that are also used by main menu items. When the search toolbar or search panel has keyboard focus, the search options take precedence when you use an Alt+letter shortcut. Otherwise, the main menu takes precedence.

Characters with Diacritics

While you can use the Character Map to insert any character that you can’t type on your keyboard, you can type many characters with diacritics in EditPad even if they don’t appear on your keyboard. First, hold down the Ctrl key and press a punctuation key. If your keyboard uses the Shift key to type a particular punctuation character then hold down the Shift key too. Release all keys. Then type in a letter from A to Z, holding down Shift if you want a capital letter.

In EditPad Pro, Ctrl+/ is a shortcut for Block|Toggle Comment by default. If you want to use Ctrl+/ to type characters with strokes, remove the shortcut from Block|Toggle Comment in the keyboard preferences.