Skip to content

doc: common: hotkeys

Yury V. Zaytsev edited this page Mar 25, 2025 · 3 revisions

MC Hotkeys

Notes on keyboard shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts are selected by modifiers. The modifiers used in mc are:

  • Ctrl - “Control“ or “Ctrl“ key;
  • Meta - The “Alternate” or “Alt” or “Meta” key can be replaced by pressing “Esc” or “Escape” once;
  • Esc - “Escape“ or “Esc“ key;
  • Shift - The “Shift” key, can also be indicated on keyboards as an upward pointing arrow below the “Caps Lock” key or below the “Enter” key.

Pressing multiple keys simultaneously

If multiple keys are to be pressed at the same time, the press is described as a summation. For example, if “Control” and “r” are to be pressed, the description would be:

Ctrl+r

If you need to press a keyboard shortcut with upper case letters (“Ctrl“ and “R“, for example):

Ctrl+Shift+R

Keyboard shortcuts with the Meta key are described in the same way:

Meta+r
Meta+Shift+R

Simultaneous pressing does not literally imply simultaneous pressing - you must first press the modifier key, then the desired key, then release the modifier key. For example, how to enter the keyboard shortcut Meta+r:

  • Press the Alt key and do not release it;
  • Press the r key with the second finger (or the finger of the second hand) and release it immediately;
  • Release the Alt key.

In case of adding the Shift modifier (Meta+Shift+R, for example) the sequence of actions will be as follows:

  • Press the Alt key and do not release it;
  • Press Shift and keep it pressed;
  • Press r and release it immediately;
  • Release the Shift key;
  • Release the Alt key.

Pressing multiple keys in sequence

If you want to press one key (or keyboard shortcut) first and then a second, then the action is written as a comma-delimited enumeration. For example, if you want to press the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+p and then press the key p in addition, you would write:

Ctrl+p,p

Or, if you need to press Ctrl+p twice:

Ctrl+p,Ctrl+p

Multiple keyboard shortcuts per action

Each keyboard shortcut for some ONE action is described on a new line. Below are tables of keyboard shortcuts and the actions they are associated with

List of keyboard shortcuts

Clone this wiki locally