Multi-Cursor Editing

Multi-cursor editing applies edits to multiple locations at once.

Adding Cursors#

Cursors Above / Below#

Add cursors directly above or below the current line:

• Cursor Above: Ctrl + Shift + Up (macOS) / Ctrl + Alt + Up (Windows / Linux)
• Cursor Below: Ctrl + Shift + Down (macOS) / Ctrl + Alt + Down (Windows / Linux)

(In the VS Code keymap preset on macOS, use Ctrl + Option + Up / Ctrl + Option + Down).

All active cursors accept simultaneous typing, character deletion, and word motions.

Clipboard Behavior#

• Smart Paste Distribution: If the clipboard contains 3 lines and you have 3 cursors, each cursor receives one line in order. If line count doesn't match cursor count, the full clipboard is inserted at every cursor.
• Copy Without Selection: With collapsed cursors, each cursor copies its entire line, which then gets selected. Overlapping lines are deduplicated.
• Cut With Selection: Each cursor cuts its selected range.

Dismissing Cursors#

Press Escape or click without modifier keys to collapse back to a single primary cursor.

Next Steps#

• Code Folding — Hide blocks and comments.
• Find & Replace — Fast document-level search.