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"

[eliliam]

Do you know how to make this work in the SELECT mode? Adding the below block to my config:

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

This causes the visual selection to reset with each word jumped. This makes sense, but isn't the ideal behavior in the visual SELECT mode. Is there another action that would extend the selection forward/backward by one word we could use instead of move_next_word_start/move_prev_word_end?

Edit:
After playing around with it, I've found a working config:

[keys.select]
C-right = "extend_next_word_start"
C-left = "extend_prev_word_end"

With special thanks to @sommerper in #7148 (reply in thread) for the additional mappings, here is my full final version if anyone would like to use it as well:

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

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

[keys.select]
C-right = "extend_next_word_start"
C-left = "extend_prev_word_end"
S-right = "extend_char_right"
S-left = "extend_char_left"

I did not add the ctrl+shift+{Left,Right} shortcuts as those conflict with ones I use for my Kitty pane management, but if you would like to use them, refer to #7148 (reply in thread)

[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"