DEV Community

Cover image for Top 8 macros for Developers to maximize their productivity with AHK
Radu-Alexandru B
Radu-Alexandru B

Posted on • Updated on

Top 8 macros for Developers to maximize their productivity with AHK

#showdev #productivity #autohotkey #tutorial

Cover Photo by Ken Suarez on Unsplash

Contents

Short short Intro

In this post, we'll summarize all the macros created with AutoHotKey (AHK) in the previous parts (+extras). However, there is no need to read those parts as I'll provide a fast and short step by step guide on how to set AHK.

Let's get started!

1. Run command prompt in the currently focused folder

If you don't have AutoHotKey installed, simply download it from here, then run the setup. Now we just need to create a file with .ahk extension (eg. myMacros.ahk). After you run this file (double click it), a small green H icon will pop up letting you know that the script is running in the background. Now, let's open the .ahk file with any text editor and add these lines:



^!u::     ; Use ctrl+alt+u to open cmd in current selected folder
{
  Send, !d
  Send, ^c
  Sleep 50
  Run cmd, %clipboard%
  Return
}
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

AHK icon running in the background

Save this file, and click on Reload This Script from the AHK icon. Now, open any folder, and press ctrl+alt+u to open cmd prompt with the folder's current path:

Open command prompt in the current folder

We can also keep in mind the key notations in AHK for Control, Shift, Windows, and Alt:

Key notation in AHK Actual Key
^ Control
+ Shift
! Alt
# Windows Key

2. Run command prompt followed by certain commands

From now on we will reopen myMacros.ahk with a text editor, and we'll just keep adding more macros, save the file, then click on Reload this Script.

We can add more commands after opening the command prompt. For example, we can run git status right after (or npm start, python ./manage.py runserver etc):



^!+u::     ; Use ctrl+alt+shift+u to open cmd in current selected folder and run git status
{
  Send, !d
  Send, ^c
  Sleep 50
  Run cmd, %clipboard%
  Sleep 100
  Send, git status
  Sleep 100
  Send, {Enter}
  Return
}
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Or, if you use Jupyter Notebook in a specific drive partition and/or environment, instead of opening it with command prompt, you can just use a shortcut like ctrl+alt+j (or even ctrl+win+j or whatever you want) and write all the corresponding commands automatically. Just add this macro:



^!j::                                  ; use ctrl+alt+j
{                                      ; to open jupyter notebook in g: in tf_gpu conda env
  Run cmd, g:
  Sleep 100
  Send, activate tf_gpu
  Sleep 1000
  Send, {Enter}
  Send, jupyter notebook
  Sleep 2000
  Send, {Enter}
  Return
}
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Or you can fast open Python in command prompt by pressing ctrl+alt+p:



^!p::                                  ; use ctrl+alt+p
{                                      ; to open cmd prompt in python
  Run cmd, C:\Users\MyUserName
  Sleep 100
  Send, python
  Sleep 100
  Send, {Enter}
  Return
}
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Open Python Shortcut Windows

3. Search on Google the currently selected text

Add these lines in your myMacros.ahk to search on Google the selected text using Ctrl+Alt+c:



^!c:: ; use ctrl+alt+c to search on google
{
  Send, ^c
  Sleep 50
  Run, http://www.google.com/search?q=%clipboard%
  Return
}
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

If you have a mouse with 3 side buttons, you can even assign this macro by pressing Left Click while holding the middle left-sided mouse button (More details in my previous post):



XButton2 & LButton:: ; Search currently selected text on Google
{
  Send, ^c
  Sleep 100
  If InStr(clipboard, "http")
    Run, %clipboard%
  Else
    Run, https://www.google.com/search?q=%clipboard%
  Return
}

; Note: if the selected text is a link, open it in a new tab
; Otherwise, search the selected text on Google
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

We can also search on other websites, such as Pexels and Unsplash.



^#u:: ; use ctrl+win+u to search on Unsplash
{
  Send, ^c
  Sleep 50
  Run, https://unsplash.com/s/photos/%clipboard%
  Return
}
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode 


^#p:: ; use ctrl+win+p to search on Pexels
{
  Send, ^c
  Sleep 50
  Run, https://www.pexels.com/search/%clipboard%
  Return
}
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

4. Open applications/websites using shortcuts

We can open any application using any shortcut key. For reference, we can use the following keys (without overwriting the system's shortcuts):

  • RAlt+(anyKeyLetter) or RAlt+(anyNumber)
  • Ctrl+Alt+(anyKey) (But be aware that some applications might use these key combinations, you can check using DefKey.com)
  • Ctrl+Shift+Alt+(anyKey)
  • Alt+Shift+(anyKey) (Check here)
  • Ctrl+Win+(anyKey)
  • Ctrl+Win+Alt+(anyKey)

Here are some examples:



^#1::Run "https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox"   ; use ctrl+win+1 to open gmail 1
^#2::Run "https://mail.google.com/mail/u/1/#inbox"   ; use ctrl+win+2 to open gmail 2
^#3::Run "https://translate.google.ro/?hl=ro&tab=wT" ; use ctrl+win+3 to open Google Translate

^+!1::Run "https://www.google.com"      ; use ctrl+shift+alt+1
^+!2::Run "https://dev.to"              ; use ctrl+shift+alt+2
^+!3::Run "https://www.linkedin.com"    ; use ctrl+shift+alt+3
^+!4::Run "https://www.spotify.com/"    ; use ctrl+shift+alt+4
^+!5::Run "https://www.mixcloud.com/"   ; use ctrl+shift+alt+5
^+!6::Run "https://www.freecodecamp.org/learn/"

^!t::Run cmd, C:\Users\Username         ; use ctrl+alt+t to run Cmd
^!w::Run winamp.exe                     ; use ctrl+alt+w to run Winamp
^!s::Run C:\Program Files\Sublime Text 3\sublime_text.exe
^!v::Run C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Programs\Microsoft VS Code\Code.exe
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

5. Open new explorer window with the same path as the currently focused folder

I often use Win+E default shortcut to open the Explorer, but oftentimes I need to open a new window within the same location to move/organize some files. So why not use Ctrl+Win+E shortcut to do that?



^#e::                                  ; use ctrl+win+e 
{                                      ; to open new explorer window with the same selected folder
  Send, !d
  Sleep 50
  Send, ^c
  Sleep 100
  Run, Explorer "%clipboard%" 
  Return
}
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

We can do even more by opening the new explorer and have both windows side by side, and even have the new window go up one level:



^+#e::                                  ; use ctrl+shift+win+e 
{                                       ; to open new explorer window with the same selected folder
  Send, #{Left}
  Sleep 50  
  Send, !d
  Sleep 50
  Send, ^c
  Sleep 100
  Run, Explorer "%clipboard%"
  Sleep 900
  Send, !{Up}
  Sleep 600
  Send, #{Right}
  Return
}
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Open new Explorer with same path

6. Copy to clipboard the HEX color of the pixel under your cursor

We can copy the HEX color under our cursor using Ctrl+Win+LeftClick:



; Copy to clipboard the HEX color of the pixel under your cursor using CTRL+Win+LeftClick
^#LButton::
{
  MouseGetPos, MouseX, MouseY
  PixelGetColor, color, %MouseX%, %MouseY%, RGB
  StringLower, color, color
  clipboard := SubStr(color, 3)
  Return
}
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Copy HEX Color under cursor

7. Adjust the main volume using the mouse scroll wheel

You can adjust your main volume with key combinations such as RAlt & NumpadAdd/RAlt & NumpadSub, or with your mouse wheel while holding Right Alt:



RAlt & WheelUp::Volume_Up
RAlt & WheelDown::Volume_Down
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Or, you can hold down one of the side buttons on your mouse while scrolling (if you have such a mouse)



XButton1 & WheelUp::Volume_Up
XButton1 & WheelDown::Volume_Down
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

We can also play/pause our current playing song using a left-side mouse button:



XButton1::Media_Play_Pause
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

We can do so much more using our side mouse buttons! You can read more about mouse macros in my previous post.

8. Auto-complete syntaxes with Hotstrings

These are not exactly keyboard shortcuts, but rather abbreviations expansions. More important, we can use any keywords that we like in order to auto-complete syntaxes such as print statements and loops, in any programming language:



:*:printc::printf('%d\n', num);

:*:logjs::
{
Send, console.log();{Left}{Left}
Return
}

:*:printjava::
{
Send, System.out.println();{Left}{Left}
Return
}

:*:writecs::
{
Send, Console.WriteLine();{Left}{Left}
Return
}
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Print statements shortcuts



::forC::
(
for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
)

::forJs::
(
for (let i = 0; i < arr.length; i++) {
)

::forPy::for i in range(0, len(arr)):

:*:forMatlab::
(
for i = 1:step:length(arr)

end
)
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Loops autocomplete using AutoHotKey



::switchJs::
(
switch() {
case 0:

break;
case 1:

break;
default:
)
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Switch Case autocomplete shortcut

I've made a complete guide on using AutoHotKey's hotstrings here.

Honorable mentions

Put PC to sleep

We can get our PC into sleep mode by using a key shortcut like RAlt+PauseKey:



; Put PC in sleep mode
RAlt & Pause::DllCall("PowrProf\SetSuspendState", "int", 0, "int", 0, "int", 0)
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Empty recycle bin

We can empty the recycle bin by using WinKey+Del:



#Del::FileRecycleEmpty ; use win+del to empty recycle bin
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Get the current date/hour

We can use AutoHotKey's Hotstrings to write the current system's date & time:



:*:datenow::
{
  FormatTime, DateString, , dddd, MMMM dd, yyyy
  Send %DateString%
  Return
}

:*:timenow::
{
  FormatTime, DateString, , HH:mm
  Send %DateString%
  Return
}
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Shortcut for Date and Time



:*:datetoday::
{
  FormatTime, DateString, , yyyy-MM-dd
  Send %DateString%
  Return
}

:*:datetmr::
{
  Date += 1, Days
  FormatTime, DateString, %Date%, yyyy-MM-dd
  Send %DateString%
  Reload ; Return and clear variables
}
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Shortcut for Date and Time Excel

Use arrow keys as Home/End while holding RAlt

If you like cutting, pasting, and selecting lots of text. These "macros" might be handy:



; Arrow keys as Home/End
RAlt & Left::
{
  If GetKeyState("Shift", "P")
    Send +{Home}
  Else
    Send {Home}
  Return
}
RAlt & Right::
{
  If GetKeyState("Shift", "P")
    Send +{End}
  Else
    Send {End}
  Return
}
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Disable CapsLock key

Well, if you find yourself accidentally switching the CapsLock state from time to time... you can actually disable it completely. At the very first beginning of the .ahk file, just add the following:



; Set Lock Keys permanently off
SetCapsLockState, AlwaysOff
Return
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

This is especially useful if we are using 60% keyboards. However, if you need to use CapsLock now and then, you can make it a little harder to toggle it's state, by pressing Alt+CapsLock instead:



; Set Lock Keys permanently off by default
SetCapsLockState, AlwaysOff
Return

Alt & CapsLock::
If GetKeyState("CapsLock","T")
  SetCapsLockState, AlwaysOff
Else
  SetCapsLockState, On
Return
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

You can find more on AHK's GetKeyState() here.

Fin

Mountains photo
Mountains Photo by Benjamin Voros on Unsplash

That was it! I'm hoping that you found some of these macros actually useful in your day to day life... or maybe you got some other ideas for your workflow.

Have a wonderful day,
R.B.

Top comments (3)

Collapse
 
ruind124 profile image
ruind124 •

Hence, several Best Custom Writing and universities provide with guidelines which apart from mentioning the word limit, also mentions the font type, size and color.
Here there are two important questions that may occur. One: can you exceed with the provided limit bar? A thorough instructions column must be read before making any decision. This is because of some reasons.

Collapse
 
jhned profile image
Josh Nederveld •

This article is worth it for #6 alone; no more color picker browser extensions for me!

Collapse
 
radualexandrub profile image
Radu-Alexandru B • • Edited

Hello, glad you enjoyed this article.

However, meanwhile, I found another method to pick up and even edit colors on the fly -> If you're using Windows 10, you can download and install Microsoft Powertoys, then hit WIN+SHIFT+C keys to pick a color on your screen!
Color Picker PowerToys

Read next

mspilari profile image

Fullstack app: Deploying the Fullstack Application on Render with Docker

Matheus Bernardes Spilari -

guivr profile image

TailConverter, a browser extension to convert any website to Tailwind CSS

Guilherme Rizzo -

mike_andreuzza profile image

How to create a typewriter effect text animation with Tailwind CSS and JavaScript

Michael Andreuzza -

santhoshvijayabaskar profile image

🔥 Build Your Own AI-Powered Chrome Extension 🧩

Santhosh Vijayabaskar -