
⌘+⇧+L and other useful OS X hidden features  - nickb
http://howgoodisthat.wordpress.com/2008/12/20/and-other-useful-os-x-hidden-features/
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zzzmarcus
My favorites are the emacs-style shortcuts that work in all native textfields
is OSX:

ctrl+f - move one character forward

ctrl+v - move one character backwards

ctrl+n - next line

ctrl+p - previous line

ctrl+k - delete to the end of the line

ctrl+d - delete the next character

ctrl+h - delete the previous character (backspace)

ctrl+o - insert a newline below the current

Using the ctrl key takes some getting used to if you've used a Mac for a long
time (I mapped mine to caps lock in the system preferences) but once you learn
these keys they are incredibly useful.

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dchest
^T - change letters: colo| -> cool|

^L - center selected line (edit: center current line in window)

^E - move cursor to line end

^A - move cursor to the beginning of the line

^Y - yank (paste previously deleted text with ^K)

Corrections:

^B - move one character backwards

(^V is page down)

~~~
mechanical_fish
As an emacs user, two problems with these key combos that are constantly
burning me:

When I hit ^A in a text field of my webmail app (Fastmail) it reloads the page
I'm typing in, losing all the text I've entered so far. You have no idea how
hard it is for an emacs user to stop doing this. So be very careful on web
pages.

I keep using kill-and-yank subconsciously because I'm trained in it. But the
kill ring (is it even a ring?) gets preserved... idiosyncratically in Mac OS
X, particularly when you move from app to app, and of course it is completely
separate from the clipboard where copies and pastes go. I quite commonly kill
something and then can't get it to yank, or kill something and then try to
paste it and fail.

~~~
jrockway
Actually, I find C-w more annoying in web browsers. In emacs, I have it bound
to backward-kill-word, and use it almost as much as backspace.

In firefox, the results are not too good. The tab dies, taking the entire
textbox with it. Annoying.

The moral of the story is to not use software other than emacs. I use Gnus for
mail and w3m for light web browsing, eliminating any problem with keybinding
emulation. It _is_ emacs, so it acts like emacs.

For heavier web browsing, I use conkeror. It is almost like emacs, but not
quite. Better than anything else, though.

~~~
gecko
You might consider using Conkeror (<http://conkeror.org/>), which provides
very, very full Emacs support, while using Firefox for the rendering engine.

~~~
jrockway
This is indeed what I use :)

I still have bad memories floating around in my head from when I used Firefox,
though.

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nirmal
I like CMD + CTRL + D while hover your cursor over any word in a Cocoa app.
This brings up the dictionary entry for that word. You can also access the
Thesaurus this way and click "More..." to get the full Dictionary app to load.

Very useful when reading long academic papers outside of my field.

~~~
GHFigs
If you hold Cmd+Ctl after that, you can mouse over other words and the panel
will follow.

Also, for those that like the panel but can't always remember the shortcut, in
the Dictionary app's preferences you can set the "Look Up in Dictionary"
context menu item to open as a panel instead of opening the app.

Having a system-wide Dictionary is something I would not have thought anywhere
as valuable as it has turned out to be.

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That_Jim
Thanks everyone! I wrote the original article. Not only have I learned a bunch
of new ones (the floating dictionary is sweet) but I've discovered ycombinator
too! Thank goodness for pingback, eh?

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pxlpshr
My personal favorite is ⌘+⇧+4 in conjunction with GrabUp.

<http://www.grabup.com>

~~~
dchest
And don't forget that spacebar after ⌘⇧4 toggles between grabbing window and
area.

~~~
pxlpshr
learn something new everyday, nice!

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dchest
Don't press ctrl + opt + cmd + . more than 20 times ;)

(Undo: ctrl + opt + cmd + , )

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qqq
Help! My screen is inverted now, but he didn't include an undo command. What
do I do!? I already tried cmd-z. Do I have to restart?

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river_styx
Is this a joke?

~~~
qqq
yes

