How to customize VS Code keyboard shortcuts?

VS Code provides rich keyboard shortcuts that can greatly improve development efficiency. Through custom shortcut configuration, you can optimize workflows according to personal habits.

Common Shortcuts

Editing Operations

• Ctrl+X: Cut line
• Ctrl+C: Copy line
• Alt+Up/Down Arrow: Move line
• Shift+Alt+Up/Down Arrow: Copy line
• Ctrl+Enter: Insert new line below
• Ctrl+Shift+Enter: Insert new line above

Navigation Operations

• Ctrl+P: Quick open file
• Ctrl+Shift+P: Command palette
• Ctrl+G: Go to line
• Ctrl+T: Go to symbol
• Ctrl+Shift+O: Go to symbol in file
• Ctrl+Tab: Switch editor tabs

Selection Operations

• Ctrl+D: Select next occurrence of word
• Ctrl+Shift+L: Select all occurrences of word
• Alt+Click: Add cursor
• Shift+Alt+Drag: Column selection

Search and Replace

• Ctrl+F: Find
• Ctrl+H: Replace
• Ctrl+Shift+F: Find in files
• Ctrl+Shift+H: Replace in files

Customizing Shortcuts

Shortcut Configuration File

Shortcut configuration is stored in the keybindings.json file.

Opening Shortcut Editor

1. Press Ctrl+K, Ctrl+S
2. Or through menu: File > Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts

Custom Shortcut Examples

json
[
  {
    "key": "ctrl+shift+;",
    "command": "editor.action.insertCursorAtEndOfEachLineSelected",
    "when": "editorTextFocus"
  },
  {
    "key": "ctrl+alt+/",
    "command": "editor.action.commentLine",
    "when": "editorTextFocus"
  }
]

Conditional Shortcuts

When Clauses

Use when clauses to control shortcut triggering conditions:

json
[
  {
    "key": "ctrl+shift+f",
    "command": "editor.action.formatDocument",
    "when": "editorHasDocumentFormattingProvider && editorTextFocus && !editorReadonly"
  }
]

Common When Conditions

• editorTextFocus: Editor has focus
• editorHasSelection: Text is selected
• editorReadonly: Editor is read-only
• resourceExtname == .js: File extension is .js

Multi-key Shortcuts

Defining Multi-key Sequences

json
[
  {
    "key": "ctrl+k ctrl+s",
    "command": "workbench.action.showAllSymbols"
  }
]

Using Multi-key Shortcuts

1. Press first key combination
2. Press second key combination after status bar prompt

Platform-specific Shortcuts

Different Platform Configuration

json
[
  {
    "key": "ctrl+shift+f",
    "mac": "cmd+shift+f",
    "command": "workbench.action.findInFiles"
  }
]

Platform Identifiers

• mac: macOS
• linux: Linux
• windows: Windows

Shortcut Conflict Resolution

Viewing Shortcut Conflicts

1. Open shortcut editor
2. Enter shortcut combination
3. View conflicting commands

Disabling Default Shortcuts

json
[
  {
    "key": "ctrl+shift+f",
    "command": "-workbench.action.findInFiles"
  }
]

Overriding Extension Shortcuts

json
[
  {
    "key": "ctrl+shift+f",
    "command": "myExtension.customCommand",
    "when": "editorTextFocus"
  }
]

Shortcut Best Practices

Naming Conventions

• Use meaningful shortcut combinations
• Avoid conflicts with common shortcuts
• Consider cross-platform compatibility

Organizing Shortcuts

• Group by function
• Use consistent naming patterns
• Add comments for explanation

Example Configuration

json
[
  {
    "key": "ctrl+shift+1",
    "command": "workbench.action.terminal.new",
    "when": "!terminalFocus"
  },
  {
    "key": "ctrl+shift+2",
    "command": "workbench.action.splitEditor",
    "when": "!terminalFocus"
  },
  {
    "key": "ctrl+shift+3",
    "command": "workbench.action.toggleSidebarVisibility",
    "when": "!terminalFocus"
  }
]

Important Notes

• Regularly backup shortcut configuration
• Test custom shortcuts work properly
• Consider shortcut consistency for team collaboration
• Avoid over-customization that increases learning cost
• Use shortcut hint feature (Ctrl+K Ctrl+R)