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Windows to Mac keyboard shortcuts

Windows to Mac keyboard shortcuts

I have seen many articles telling what the Mac shortcuts are, but I would like to know if there is a way to change a few of them. Namely, when I want to do text selection and cursor positioning.

Asked by: Guest | Views: 338
Total answers/comments: 1
Guest [Entry]

"While I understand that you want to change these shortcuts because you're used to the Windows ones, I'd encourage you to learn to use the Mac shortcuts, because if you ever run across a Mac system, chances are it will be set up that way — that's the way they're ""meant"" to be for Macs. Home and End have a different meaning on Macs: they're for navigation, not for cursor movement. You can usually use Option or Command and the arrow keys to do what you want.

Nonetheless, if you insist on changing them, there are a few things to do:

Look at the file StandardKeyBinding.dict in /System/Library/Frameworks/AppKit.framework/Resources/. It contains all of the default keyboard shortcuts related to text editing (@ is command, ~ is option, $ is shift, and ^ is control). Pick out the ones you want to change, and stick their modified versions (more information on the key specifiers is here; keep in mind you'll want to change the ""...AndModifySelection:"" ones too) in a similar file in ~/Library/KeyBindings/DefaultKeyBinding.dict. You can also use a plain-text format, which instead of having

... <dict> <key>k</key><string>value</string> ... </dict> ...

uses the format

{ ""key"" = ""value""; ... }

To change the modifier keys themselves, go into the Keyboard & Mouse preferences, and click Modifier Keys under the Keyboard tab:

To change ""regular"" keyboard shortcuts which aren't built into the Cocoa text system, you can change them in the Keyboard Shortcuts tab. If they're not in the list, you can add them by pressing the ""+"" button."