I opened up Visual Studio Code today with an intent to use it for all my editing, documenting, and coding today. My priorities today, on a day I’ve taken off from work, is to work on my upcoming Terraform Course, a little Go coding, and also a few general tasks and notes. While I work on these priorities, you dear reader, get the benefit of my random notes. ;)

Shortcut Keys

There are a few shortcut keys I’ve used so frequently it has become paramount to remember them. Otherwise it’s just wasteful trying to look them up over and over.

Mac OS

  • Word Wrap ⌥ + z that’s the option key plus the letter z.
  • Zen Mode [ ⌘ + k ] then z which involves pressing the command key and then z, then releasing those now that the command key plus z state has been initiated. With the IDE in this state, then press z and Zen Mode will begin. This is a beautiful experience once you get the shortcut keys down and really want to just look at code, content, or whatever you’re thinking through.
  • Explorer ⌘ + b that is the command key plus the letter b key. This brings up the explorer, in Zen Mode or regular mode.
  • Console ⌘ + j that is the command key plus the letter j key. This brings up the section of the IDE that has the problems, output, debug console, and terminal, with the debug console in focus.
  • Terminal ^ + ` which is the control key plus the tilde or back tick key and this brings up the previously stated panel, with the terminal in focus. Be prepared for this to take a second or two when first opening, as the engine underneath has to initiate a terminal session and is sometimes a bit clunky in starting.

Linux

  • Word Wrap Alt + z
  • Zen Mode [ Ctrl + k ] then z. As the Mac version of the shortcut command, Ctrl + k initiates the IDE state, release those keys and then press z puts the IDE into Zen Mode.
  • Explorer Ctrl + b brings up the explorer.
  • Console Ctrl + j this brings up the console with the problems, output, debug console, and terminal, with the debug console in focus.
  • Terminal Ctrl + ` which is the control key plus the tilde or back tick key. See above for specifics.