Shift + Up/Down/Left/Right for selection and Ctrl + Left/Right for fwd/back word

[jgilardi]

Just getting my sea legs and trying to parse through documentation and configuration. Maybe someone knows the answers to this and can help my onramping:

Many editors support Ctrl + Left/Right to move forward/back words. For example, I'm using it here in Chrome to help author the text I'm writing in this input box. Is there a way to enable this in Helix? Out of the box Ctrl+Left/Right arrow do nothing.

Similarly supported, though less so: Shift + Up/Down/Left/Right will begin a selection/highlight (though less so in modal editors).

In most cases you can even combine the two: Shift + Ctrl + Left/Right will select back/forward words.

It'd be nice to be able to do this in Helix as it means it'll have parity between other applications. If you need a comparison point to see what I'm talking about, try out the commands in VSCode.

Thanks!

[kirawi]

You can create a binding for this in your config.toml: https://docs.helix-editor.com/remapping.html

It's not possible to move without selecting, because that's part of the editing model. Instead, you can have the binding also clear the selection.

[jgilardi]

The link hiding @ the bottom of the remapping page was the key: https://github.com/helix-editor/helix/blob/master/helix-term/src/commands.rs

The master list of commands to invoke was the piece I was missing. I'll play around with those. Thanks!

[danielrode]

Add this to your config (takes care of the right/left word navigation):

[keys.normal]
C-right = "move_next_word_start"
C-left = "move_prev_word_end"

[keys.insert]
C-right = "move_next_word_start"
C-left = "move_prev_word_end"

[databasedav]

does anyone have a full port of this behavior to helix?

[sommerper]

C-right = "move_next_word_start"
C-left = "move_prev_word_end"
C-S-right = "extend_next_word_end"
C-S-left = "extend_prev_word_start"
S-right = "extend_char_right"
S-left = "extend_char_left"