Pauline

Posted on Oct 4, 2019 • Edited on Feb 11, 2023

20 VS Code shortcuts to speed up your flow ⚡️

#productivity #vscode #beginners #codenewbie

In this article I want to share some of my favorite and most used VS Code shortcuts that help me save time, make my life a little easier and, as a heavy keyboard user, also allow me to stay in my developer flow.

You may be familiar with some of them already but hopefully you will discover a new shortcut that you can introduce into your workflow starting right now. 🤞🏻

I jotted down the key combinations for Mac users. If you’re a Windows or Linux user, you can find the key bindings for your OS here.

Alright then, so without needing to select the entire line first...

⌘X - cut a line
⌘C- copy a line
⇧⌘K - delete a line
⌘L - select the line

And while your cursor is on a specific line..

⌘Enter - insert a new line below it
⇧⌘Enter - insert a new line above it
⌥↑ and ⌥↓ - move the line up/down
⇧⌥↑ and ⇧⌥↓ - duplicate line on the line above/below it
⌘] and ⌘[ - indent and outdent the line
⌘/ - (un)comment out the line

Or within a specific file..

⌘D - find other instances of selected code
⌥Z - toggle word wrap

Lastly, for some editor/window management..

⌘P - find and go to file (quick open)
⌘N - new editor
⌘W - close editor
⌘B - toggle visibility of the side panel
⌃` - toggle visibility of the integrated terminal
⌘2 - split screen into two editor groups
⇧⌘T - reopen recently closed editor
⌥⌘← and ⌥⌘→ - view editor tab on the left/right

Happy coding!

If you enjoyed reading this post or if it was helpful to you, you can support me by buying me a coffee — I'd really appreciate it! 🙏

Top comments (31)

Paweł Kowalski • Oct 4 '19 • Edited

I personally dont use "delete line" - just cut it and never paste it. ;)

On the other hand shortcuts i often use.

I might have some customs, so double check before using

toggle terminal (ctrl+`)
multicursor to the next line (shift+ctrl+down / or shift+ctrl+up)
duplicate line above/below (shift+alt+down)
move line up / down (alt+down / alt+up)

Paweł Kowalski • Oct 5 '19 • Edited

I would also recommend folding shortcuts to navigate bigger files, but since im not working on long files (js + includes in other languages) i dont need it - but if you are dealing with files 200+ lines long, i would highly recommend mastering folding + go to line + go to method

molamk • Oct 4 '19

I second the ctrl+...

goyal-aman • Oct 5 '19 • Edited

Hey there windows users!!! To use these shortcuts in windows on VsCode, replace
⌘ - ctrl
⌥ - alt
⇧ - shift

James Livesey • Oct 5 '19

I personally use Ctrl + K ➡️ Enter as it keeps the newly-opened tab sticky and non-replacable by other files when you open them too!

And of course — how could I forget — Ctrl + Tab to switch tabs!

Pauline • Oct 6 '19

I didn't know about ctlr + tab, thanks for sharing!

James Livesey • Oct 6 '19

No probs! It also works with many web browsers too. Just about anything with tabs!

I'm not sure it applies to VSCode (tho I bet it does) but you can also do Ctrl + 1 to Ctrl + 8 to select tabs 1 to 8, and Ctrl + 9 to select the last tab.

AlbertoM • Oct 4 '19

Another one I use a lot is command shift P to open the command prompt.

One more, command K W to close all the windows

Pauline • Oct 4 '19

I didn't know about these, thank you for sharing!

Rogério Munhoz (Roz) • Oct 5 '19

Here are two that I use quite often:
Command (ctrl) + K M - Switch file language
Command (ctrl) + Shift + L - Select all occurrences of a term on the current file

Rogério Munhoz (Roz) • Oct 5 '19

Also, Command + Option + F on Mac to auto format the current file
I'm not sure about the equivalent for other platforms as I reckon it's completely different

Dimitris Pliakos • Oct 6 '19 • Edited

Another one is to open second terminal Ctrl+shift+5
(let's say you have a gulp/grunt/webpack watcher that you want to see if it compiles)

Tip:
Terminal toggle is Ctr+ `

Greg Fox • Oct 5 '19

⇧⌘D - duplicate the selected code.

José Muñoz • Oct 4 '19

No love for other platforms?

Pauline • Oct 4 '19

Oh no absolutely, this is just the setup I personally use and can write about confidently. I highly encourage devs who do not use VS Code/work on Macbooks to discover the key bindings that have the same or similar functionality as the shortcuts I shared!