Keyboard shortcuts for moving and selecting text

Wherever you type, in a document, an email, a form on a web page or a chat box, the same keys move the cursor and select text. They are among the least known shortcuts and among the most valuable, because typing is what most people do most of the day.

The idea is simple, and once seen it is easy to remember:

an arrow key moves one character or one line;
adding Ctrl (Option on a Mac) makes it move a word or a paragraph;
Home and End go to the ends of the line;
adding Shift to any of these selects as it moves.

Moving the cursor

Windows	Mac	What it does
`Left arrow` or `Right arrow`	`Left arrow` or `Right arrow`	One character
`Up arrow` or `Down arrow`	`Up arrow` or `Down arrow`	One line
`Ctrl` + `Left arrow` or `Ctrl` + `Right arrow`	`Option` + `Left arrow` or `Option` + `Right arrow`	One word
`Ctrl` + `Up arrow` or `Ctrl` + `Down arrow`	`Option` + `Up arrow` or `Option` + `Down arrow`	One paragraph
`Home`	`Cmd` + `Left arrow`	Start of the line
`End`	`Cmd` + `Right arrow`	End of the line
`Ctrl` + `Home`	`Cmd` + `Up arrow`	Start of the document
`Ctrl` + `End`	`Cmd` + `Down arrow`	End of the document
`Page Up` or `Page Down`	`Fn` + `Up arrow` or `Fn` + `Down arrow`	One screen up or down

Selecting

Hold Shift with any movement above.

Windows	Mac	What it does
`Shift` + `Left arrow` or `Shift` + `Right arrow`	`Shift` + `Left arrow` or `Shift` + `Right arrow`	Select one character at a time
`Ctrl` + `Shift` + `Left arrow` or `Ctrl` + `Shift` + `Right arrow`	`Option` + `Shift` + `Left arrow` or `Option` + `Shift` + `Right arrow`	Select one word at a time
`Shift` + `Home`	`Cmd` + `Shift` + `Left arrow`	Select to the start of the line
`Shift` + `End`	`Cmd` + `Shift` + `Right arrow`	Select to the end of the line
`Shift` + `Up arrow` or `Shift` + `Down arrow`	`Shift` + `Up arrow` or `Shift` + `Down arrow`	Select one line at a time
`Ctrl` + `Shift` + `Home`	`Cmd` + `Shift` + `Up arrow`	Select to the start of the document
`Ctrl` + `Shift` + `End`	`Cmd` + `Shift` + `Down arrow`	Select to the end of the document
`Ctrl` + `A`	`Cmd` + `A`	Select everything

Selecting with the mouse

Windows	Mac	What it does
`Double-click`	`Double-click`	Select the word
`Triple-click`	`Triple-click`	Select the paragraph (the line, in some programs)
`Click`, `then Shift` + `click`	`Click`, `then Shift` + `click`	Select everything between the two clicks
`Double-click and drag`	`Double-click and drag`	Select whole words as you drag

Deleting

Windows	Mac	What it does
`Backspace`	`Delete`	Delete the character to the left
`Delete`	`Fn` + `Delete`	Delete the character to the right
`Ctrl` + `Backspace`	`Option` + `Delete`	Delete the word to the left
`Ctrl` + `Delete`	`Fn` + `Option` + `Delete`	Delete the word to the right

Putting them together

The value comes from combining these without thinking.

Fix a word three words back. Press Ctrl + Left arrow three times, not the arrow key fifteen times. Then Ctrl + Shift + Right arrow selects the word, and typing replaces it.

Replace a whole line. Home, then Shift + End, then type. Three keys select the line.

Delete the word you just mistyped. Ctrl + Backspace removes it whole, which is faster than holding Backspace and overshooting.

Select from here to the end. Ctrl + Shift + End takes everything from the cursor to the end of the document. Useful for cutting the rest of a draft.

Select a long passage exactly. Click at the start, find the end, hold Shift and click. For fine adjustment, keep Shift held and tap an arrow key.

Move a sentence. Select it with Shift and the arrow keys, cut with Ctrl + X, move the cursor with the same keys, and paste with Ctrl + V. Your hands never leave the keyboard.

On laptops without Home and End

Small keyboards often put Home, End, Page Up and Page Down on the arrow keys, reached with Fn: Fn + Left arrow is Home and Fn + Right arrow is End. On a Mac, Cmd with the left and right arrows does the same job.

Where they do not apply

In spreadsheets, the arrow keys move between cells. Press F2 first to edit inside a cell, and then these keys work on its text.
In a terminal, movement keys are different. See the terminal page.
In web forms, Up and Down may change a selected option instead of moving the cursor.

Why bother?

Because the alternative is the mouse: take a hand off the keys, find the pointer, aim at a gap between two letters, click, and come back. Each trip costs a second or two and breaks the flow of thought. Someone who writes for a living makes hundreds of small corrections a day. These keys turn each one into a twitch of the fingers.

This is an independent reference site. It is not connected with Microsoft, Apple, Google or any other maker of the programs named here. Product names belong to their owners and are used only to say where a shortcut works. Programs change; if a shortcut does not work for you, check the program's own help.