How to select text in iterm with Shift+Arrow?

macos terminal iterm iterm2
truth1ness picture truth1ness · May 5, 2015 · Viewed 13k times · Source

On most mac applications Shift+Arrow selects text but in iterm it just moves the cursor without selecting. How do you get it to select the text?

Would also be curious if there's a way to do this in terminal.app, too.

Answer

Merlin picture Merlin · Oct 24, 2017

Follow the directions in this superuser answer which describes using the iTerm custom key bindings to map ⌥ + ⇧ + ← to select by word. Its smart to make new key mappings in a profile to test it out, rather than the main keys preference.

Suggested keybindings

iTerm: Preferences > Profiles > Keys

Click + to add a keybinding, Click to Set

⌥ + ← | Action: Move start of selection back > Move by character

⌥ + → | Action: Move end of selection forward > Move by character

⌥ + ⇧ + ← | Action: Move start of selection back > Move by word

⌥ + ⇧ + → | Action: Move end of selection forward > Move by word


your ⌘ C or ⌘ V will work to copy/paste these selections

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