13 handy Atom shortcuts

Using the mouse is fine, but to get really fast with the editor, these command key power combos will improve your user experience and get you what you want much faster. It takes a while for these to become second nature, so make sure you spend some time forcing yourself to use them. It’ll pay off in a big way once they become a part of your regular workflow.

  • cmd-shift-p (Mac), ctrl-shift-p (Windows): Access just about any tool in the menus/preview command key combinations.
  • ctrl+G (Mac), ctrl+G (Windows): Get to any line, row or column quickly.
  • ctrl+F2 (Mac), ctrl+F2 (Windows): You can create and navigate through custom bookmarks you place in documents. This command lists the current bookmarks.
  • cmd+R (Mac), ctrl+R (Windows): Context-sensitive index of the current document built by Atom.
  • cmd+P (Mac), ctrl+P (Windows): Looking for a file? Skip the file tree and try this combination for a quick list of all of the files in the current project.
  • cmd+K, cmd+# (Mac), ctrl+k, ctrl+# (Windows): To get a quick overview of a document, fold to different levels.
  • alt+G O: Open the current file on GitHub.
  • alt+G B: Open GitHub's blame page, which helps you figure out who did what on a project.
  • alt+G H: Open GitHub's history page for this file. It allows you to see the changes on an individual document over time.
  • alt+G I: Review issues regarding this page.
  • alt+G C: Copy the GitHub URL for this project.
  • alt+G R: Compare the current branch with a different branch.
  • alt+G G: Open current repository in GitHub.

This article was originally published in net magazine issue 282. Buy it here.

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Ray is a senior staff author at Lynda.com