The following is a list of default key bindings for ash. All of these can be remapped as per the user's preferences by creating new keymaps in the ~/.config/ash-editor/keymaps/ directory. The default keymap is stored in the file 'default.json'.
These key combinations can be used even if no editor is currently active.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| Ctrl + Q | Close the active window |
| Ctrl + @ | Forcefully quit the application, discarding all changes |
| Tab or Ctrl + I | Switch focus to the next widget in the active dialog-box (if any) |
| Shift + Tab | Switch focus to the previous widget in the active dialog-box |
| Ctrl + ← ↑ → ↓ | Move the active dialog-box around the screen |
| Space | Check/Uncheck a checkbox in focus |
| Enter or Ctrl + W or Ctrl + J | Save changes and close the current dialog box |
| Alt + ↓ | Open the top-level menu |
| Alt + ↑ | Close/hide the top-level menu |
| Ctrl + L | Show the list of active buffers/files |
| Ctrl + T | Show the list of active tabs |
| Ctrl + N | Open a new buffer for editing |
| Ctrl + O | Open a file |
| Ctrl + E | Open project explorer (if directory has been opened) |
| F1 | Show Help |
| F2 | Show the list of recently opened files |
| F3 | Switch to previous editor |
| F4 | Switch to next editor |
| F5 | Switch to previous tab |
| F6 | Switch to next tab |
| F11 | Toggle fullscreen |
| Ctrl + F1 | Shows/hides filenames in non-active editors |
| Ctrl + F2 | Create a new tab |
| Ctrl + F3 | Split horizontally |
| Ctrl + F4 | Split vertically |
| Ctrl + F5 | Merge horizontally |
| Ctrl + F6 | Merge vertically |
| Ctrl + F7 | Close the active tab |
| Ctrl + F9 | Close all editors in the active-tab except the active-editor |
| Esc or Ctrl + [ | Show the command window |
| F12 | Search in all open files/buffers |
| Ctrl + F12 | Search/Replace in all open files/buffers |
Apart from the above, selection and cursor-movement using Shift and/or arrow / Home / End keys, as well as Cut / Copy / Paste (using Ctrl + X / C / V respectively) work in all text-fields (wherever they occur in dialog-boxes).
These key combinations work only if an editor is currently active.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| Alt + → or Right-Click | Open popup menu |
| ← ↑ → ↓ | Move the cursor in the document one character/line at a time |
| Ctrl + ← → | Move the cursor one word at a time |
| PgUp PgDown | Move the cursor in the document one screenful at a time |
| Home End | Move the cursor to the beginning/end of the current line |
| Ctrl + Home End | Move the cursor to the beginning/end of the current document |
| Tab | Insert tab OR Increase the indent of the selection |
| Shift + Tab | Decrease the indent of the selection if possible |
| Shift + Home End | Select text up to the beginning/end of the current line |
| Shift + ← ↑ → ↓ | Select text one character at a time |
| Shift + PgUp PgDown | Select one screenful at a time |
| Ctrl + A | Select all |
| Ctrl + C | Copy |
| Ctrl + X | Cut |
| Ctrl + V | Paste |
| Backspace | Delete the character/selected-text before the cursor |
| Del | Delete the selected-text or, character at the cursor position |
| Ctrl + F2 | Convert all Uncode escape sequences (\uxxxx) to Unicode characters, and also sets file encoding to UTF-8 |
| Ctrl + S | Save the current file/buffer |
| Ctrl + W | Save the current buffer/file and close the editor |
| F9 | Save As... |
| Ctrl + P | Open the preferences dialog-box |
| Ctrl + G | Go to a given line/column |
| Ctrl + Z | Undo |
| Ctrl + Y | Redo |
| Ctrl + F | Find |
| Ctrl + H | Replace |
| Ctrl + K | Add a cursor below |
| Ctrl + ^ | Cancel multi-cursor mode |
Besides the above, Ctrl + click and mouse-drag will select text, and mouse wheel will move the cursor 2 lines in either direction.
These key combinations work when the Find/Replace dialog box is active:
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| Enter or Ctrl + J | Find next match |
| F7 | Find previous match |
| F8 | Replace the current match |
| Ctrl + F8 | Replace all occurrences |
These key combinations work when the Project Explorer dialog-box is active:
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| Ctrl + R | Refresh file tree |
| Ctrl + N | Create a new file under the selected directory |
| Ctrl + D | Create a new directory under the selected directory |
| F2 | Rename the selected file/directory |
| Del | Moves the selected file/directory to the trash |
| + | Collapse the current selected directory |
| - | Expand the current selected directory |
ash also provides certain shortcuts for helping in editing code. It has support for auto-indentation when the previous line is indented. Also, pressing any of theese keys: ` ' " ( { [ while some text is selected, will cause ash to enclose the selected text within the pair of matching quotes/brackets.
All of these key bindings can be changed by editing the file ~/.config/ash-editor/keymaps/default.json.