Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows, Mac, and Linux
In today’s fast-paced digital environment, keyboard shortcuts have become essential tools for enhancing productivity and efficiency, especially for tasks like HTML coding. By mastering these shortcuts, users can navigate their operating systems and software applications with greater speed and ease.
Whether you’re working on a document, browsing the web, or managing files, knowing the right keyboard shortcuts can significantly reduce the time spent on repetitive tasks. This guide provides a comprehensive list of keyboard shortcuts for Windows, Mac, and Linux, organized into various categories such as navigation, editing, text formatting, and more.
Additionally, for those involved in web development, understanding keyboard shortcuts for HTML coding can further streamline your workflow and improve your coding efficiency.
Explore the tables below to discover how you can enhance your productivity and make the most of your computing experience across all three platforms:
Navigation Shortcuts
| Action | Windows | Mac | Linux |
|---|---|---|---|
| Select All | Ctrl + A | Command + A | Ctrl + A |
| Copy | Ctrl + C | Command + C | Ctrl + C |
| Cut | Ctrl + X | Command + X | Ctrl + X |
| Paste | Ctrl + V | Command + V | Ctrl + V |
| Find | Ctrl + F | Command + F | Ctrl + F |
| Open New Tab | Ctrl + T | Command + T | Ctrl + T |
| Close Tab | Ctrl + W | Command + W | Ctrl + W |
| Switch Tabs | Ctrl + Tab | Command + Option + Arrow Keys | Ctrl + Tab |
Editing Shortcuts
| Action | Windows | Mac | Linux |
|---|---|---|---|
| Undo | Ctrl + Z | Command + Z | Ctrl + Z |
| Redo | Ctrl + Y | Command + Shift + Z | Ctrl + Shift + Z |
| Save | Ctrl + S | Command + S | Ctrl + S |
| Ctrl + P | Command + P | Ctrl + P | |
| Delete | Delete | Delete | Delete |
| Permanent Delete | Shift + Delete | Command + Delete | Shift + Delete |
Text Formatting
| Action | Windows | Mac | Linux |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bold | Ctrl + B | Command + B | Ctrl + B |
| Italic | Ctrl + I | Command + I | Ctrl + I |
| Underline | Ctrl + U | Command + U | Ctrl + U |
| Increase Font Size | Ctrl + Shift + > | Command + Plus | Ctrl + Shift + > |
| Decrease Font Size | Ctrl + Shift + < | Command + Minus | Ctrl + Shift + < |
Browser/Window Management
| Action | Windows | Mac | Linux |
|---|---|---|---|
| Refresh Page | F5 / Ctrl + R | Command + R | F5 / Ctrl + R |
| Full Screen | F11 | Command + Control + F | F11 |
| New Window | Ctrl + N | Command + N | Ctrl + N |
| Close Window | Alt + F4 | Command + W | Alt + F4 |
| Reopen Closed Tab | Ctrl + Shift + T | Command + Shift + T | Ctrl + Shift + T |
System Shortcuts
| Action | Windows | Mac | Linux |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lock Screen | Win + L | Command + Control + Q | Super + L |
| Task Manager | Ctrl + Shift + Esc | Command + Option + Esc | Ctrl + Alt + Esc |
| Open Terminal | Win + X → Terminal | Command + Space → Terminal | Ctrl + Alt + T |
| Show Desktop | Win + D | Command + F3 | Ctrl + Alt + D |
| Open File Explorer | Win + E | Command + Shift + C | Ctrl + Alt + F |
Screenshot Shortcuts
| Action | Windows | Mac | Linux |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capture Full Screen | PrtScn | Command + Shift + 3 | PrtScn |
| Capture Area/Window | Win + Shift + S | Command + Shift + 4 | Shift + PrtScn |
| Capture Active Window | Alt + PrtScn | Command + Shift + 4 → Space → Click Window | Alt + PrtScn |
| Copy Screenshot to Clipboard | Win + Shift + S → Select Area | Control + Command + Shift + 3/4 | Ctrl + PrtScn |
| Open Screenshot Tool | Win + Shift + S | Command + Shift + 5 | GNOME: Ctrl + Shift + Alt + R (varies) |
Questions and Answers related to HTML Keyboard Shortcuts
In most Windows code editors like Visual Studio Code and Sublime Text, you can jump between matching HTML tags using a built-in navigation shortcut. In VS Code, press Ctrl+Shift+\\ to move the cursor between opening and closing tags. In Sublime Text, Ctrl+M achieves the same result, quickly selecting the tag pair. Additionally, in Notepad++, Ctrl+B jumps between matching tags. These shortcuts save time when inspecting or editing nested elements, ensuring proper tag structure without manual scanning and helping you maintain clean, valid HTML markup.
Essential formatting shortcuts across platforms include indentation, commenting, and auto‑format. Use Tab to indent and Shift+Tab to outdent. Toggle comments with Ctrl+/ (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+/ (Mac). Auto‑format your code via Ctrl+Shift+I (Win/Linux) or Cmd+Shift+I (Mac) to clean up spacing and alignment. Multi‑cursor editing with Ctrl+Alt+↓/↑ (Win/Linux) or Option+Cmd+↓/↑ (Mac) lets you edit multiple tags at once. Emmet abbreviations like typing html:5 + Tab expand snippets instantly, boosting markup productivity across any OS.
Browser and window shortcuts speed up context switching and testing. Navigate editor or browser tabs with Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab (or Cmd+Option+→/← on Mac). Switch applications via Alt+Tab (Win/Linux) or Cmd+Tab (Mac). Reload pages with Ctrl+R (or Cmd+R) to see live HTML changes instantly. Open DevTools panels using F12 or Ctrl+Shift+I (Cmd+Option+I on Mac). Splitting windows or using virtual desktops lets you edit markup side‑by‑side with a preview, streamlining iterative design and debugging.
On a Mac, duplicating or deleting a line is effortless. In VS Code, press Cmd+Shift+D to duplicate the current line or selection below. To delete a line without selection, use Cmd+Shift+K, which removes the entire line and pulls up the next line. Sublime Text and Atom share these defaults. You can also use Option+Shift+↓ to duplicate a line and Cmd+X on an empty line to cut it. Mastering these shortcuts accelerates refactoring and markup adjustments in your HTML files.
Capturing screenshots documents your rendered HTML quickly. On Windows, press Print Screen for full screen, Alt+Print Screen for the active window, or Win+Shift+S to select a region. On Mac, use Cmd+Shift+3 for the entire display or Cmd+Shift+4 to select an area; add Space after Cmd+Shift+4 to capture a specific window. In Linux (GNOME), press Print Screen for full capture or Shift+Print Screen for a region; tools like Flameshot (Shift+PrtScn) offer annotation features. These shortcuts streamline visual feedback during development.
With Emmet-enabled editors, inserting the HTML5 doctype is a keystroke away. Type ! and press Tab (or Ctrl+E in some setups) to expand into <!DOCTYPE html>. Alternatively, enter html:5 and hit Tab to generate a full HTML5 boilerplate, including <html>, <head>, and <body> tags. This snippet jump‑starts new documents and ensures the correct standard. If Emmet abbreviations don’t expand, enable them in your editor’s settings or install the Emmet plugin for your IDE.
In Linux editors, navigate between HTML elements with keyboard commands. In Vim, place the cursor on a tag and press % to jump to its matching partner. In VS Code and similar GUI editors, use Ctrl+Shift+\\ or Ctrl+M to switch between opening and closing tags. For s-expression navigation in Emacs, use Ctrl+Alt+F (forward) and Ctrl+Alt+B (backward). Word‑wise movement with Ctrl+Right or Ctrl+Left hops between tag names and attributes. These shortcuts eliminate mouse dependence and speed up markup traversal.
Navigation shortcuts like Ctrl+F (Win/Linux) or Cmd+F (Mac) are essential in browser DevTools. Pressing them opens the search panel in the Elements or Sources tab, allowing you to locate tags, IDs, classes, or text within the DOM quickly. Use F3 or Enter to move to the next match. Ctrl+Shift+F (Cmd+Option+F) searches across all loaded resources, helping you trace external HTML imports or template files. Combining search with live editing and breakpoints lets you pinpoint malformed markup or missing attributes without scrolling through long documents.
Visual Studio Code uses different modifier keys on Windows and Mac. On Windows, shortcuts employ Ctrl and Alt, while Mac replaces them with Cmd and Option. For instance, formatting HTML is Shift+Alt+F on Windows versus Shift+Option+F on Mac. Commenting uses Ctrl+/ (Win) and Cmd+/ (Mac). Multi‑cursor additions are Ctrl+Alt+↓ (Win) vs Option+Cmd+↓ (Mac). Duplicating lines is Shift+Alt+Down vs Shift+Option+Down. Recognizing these mappings ensures a smooth transition between platforms.
Function keys provide quick access to help, testing, and debugging. In editors like VS Code, press F1 to open the command palette and search any action. In browsers, F5 reloads the page to reflect HTML changes, while F12 opens DevTools for inspecting elements and console logs. F11 toggles full‑screen mode, useful for responsive design testing. Debuggers often use F9 to toggle breakpoints, F10 to step over code, and F8 to resume execution. Learning these keys streamlines development and troubleshooting workflows.
Edit and Test Doctype Code
