How can I select files in Midnight Commander on a MacBook Pro?

I find really annoying to use Midnight Commander under OS X when using the non-extended keyboard (laptop).

I found no way of simulating an INSERT key press (select file) and I would like to find a solution that does not require me to reconfigure MC, specially because I cannot do this with each machine I'm connecting to from my MacBook.

I will give extra bonus ;) for and extended solution what will solve the problem not only for the INSERT (select file) but also for switch selection and add/substract selection (NumMultiply,NumMinus,NumPlus).

Remember that Numlock area *, + and - are not the same as the ones from the standard keyboard.

Solution 1:

Ctrl-T is standard hotkey for file selection — http://linux.die.net/man/1/mc.

As for switch/add/substract, just type shift-8 for *, shift-= for + and - for minus.

All this works in MC out of the box.

Solution 2:

Control+T will select files:

http://austringer.net/wp/index.php/2008/06/07/mac-os-x-and-midnight-commander-the-missing-insert-key/

Solution 3:

For those like me who were drawn here by a Google search based on the title of the question (not relating to Midnight Commander), I still haven't found a great solution. However, for Word processors (a common usage of needing to find the "insert" key to toggle Insert/Overwrite mode), you should be able to click the text that says "INSRT" or "OVER"/"OVWT" in the status bar on the bottom of the Word Processor to change modes, as detailed here for Open Office. Not awesome, but at least functional.

If neither Midnight Commander nor a Word Processor drew you here, then...good luck in your quest!

Solution 4:

Holding shift ⇧ while pressing ↑ or ↓ will also select the file.

Shift ⇧ + ↓ is easier for me to reach and skip over files I don't want to select compared to Control ⌃ + t.