How can I navigate back to the last cursor position in Visual Studio Code?

Solution 1:

The keyboard shortcut commands are Go Forward and Go Back.

On Windows:

Alt + ← ... navigate back

Alt + → ... navigate forward

On Mac:

Ctrl + - ... navigate back

Ctrl + Shift + - ... navigate forward

On Ubuntu Linux:

Ctrl + Alt + - .., navigate back

Ctrl + Shift + - ... navigate forward

Solution 2:

I am on Mac OS X, so I can't answer for Windows users:

I added a custom keymap entry and set it to Ctrl + ← + Ctrl + →, while the original default is Ctrl + - and Ctrl + Shift + - (which translates to Ctrl + ß and Ctrl + Shift+ß on my German keyboard).

One can simply modify it in the user keymap settings:

{ "key": "ctrl+left",  "command": "workbench.action.navigateBack" },
{ "key": "ctrl+right", "command": "workbench.action.navigateForward" }

For the accepted answer I actually wonder :) Alt + ← / Alt + → jumps wordwise for me (which is kind of standard in all editors). Did they really do this mapping for the Windows version?

Solution 3:

This will be different for each OS, based on the information in Key Bindings for Visual Studio Code.

Workbench configuration:

Go Back: workbench.action.navigateBack
Go Forward: workbench.action.navigateForward

Linux:

Go Back: Ctrl+Alt+-
Go Forward: Ctrl+Shift+-

Mac OS X:

Go Back: Ctrl + -
Go Forward: Ctrl + Shift (⇧) + -

Windows:

Go Back: Alt + ⬅️
Go Forward: Alt + ➡️