What are the control keys available when working in a text field?

Solution 1:

The default key bindings are stored in /System/Library/Frameworks/AppKit.framework/Resources/StandardKeyBinding.dict. You can use plutil to convert the file to an XML format, like so:

plutil -convert xml1 -o StandardKeyBinding.xml  /System/Library/Frameworks/AppKit.framework/Resources/StandardKeyBinding.dict

Or, if you have Xcode or Property List Editor, you can open it there.

In addition, you can add your own bindings system-wide to /Library/KeyBindings/DefaultKeyBinding.dict, or per-user to ~/Library/KeyBindings/DefaultKeyBinding.dict.

This page has a nice overview of bindings. I've grown particularly fond of Transpose (⌃-T), which swaps the two letters to the left and right of your cursor, fixing my most common kind of typo quickly.

In addition, there are various additional tricks using the ⌥ and ⌘ keys:

• ⌘-← and → move to the beginning or end of the line. Add ⇧ to select everything in between.
• ⌘-↑ and ↓ move to the beginning or end of the document. Add ⇧ to select everything in between.
• ⌥-← and → move to the beginning or end of the word, or between multiple words. Add ⇧ to select everything in between.
• ⌥-↑ and ↓ move to the beginning or end of the paragraph. Add ⇧ to select everything in between.

Solution 2:

You can use alt/option and the cursor ← / → keys to move back and forth whole words at a time, taking you to either the beginning or end of the word depending on the direction you choose.

Using shift also allows you to highlight text as you pass over it.

Using the same combinations with ↑ / ↓ does the same within paragraphs.