To enable you to keep both hands on the keyboard, a number of shortcuts allow you to select text, deselect text, and change the text that is selected. See Table 5-4 for a selection of these shortcuts.
Table 5-4. Text Selection Shortcuts
Description
Shortcut
Selects the current identifier or other word that the insertion point is on.
Alt-J
Selects all the text between a set of parentheses, brackets, or curly braces. The insertion point must be resting immediately after either the opening or closing parenthesis/bracket/brace.
Ctrl-Shift-[
Selects the current code element. Upon subsequent pressings, incrementally increases the size of the selection to include surrounding code elements. For example, if you press Alt-Shift-S once, the current word is selected. If you press it again, the rest of the expression might be selected. Pressing a third time might select the whole statement. Pressing a fourth time might select the whole method.
Alt-Shift-S
Selects the next (previous) character or extends the selection one character.
Shift-Right (Shift-Left)
Selects the next (previous) word or extends the selection one word.
Ctrl-Shift-Right (Ctrl-Shift-Left)
Creates or extends the text selection one line down (up).
Shift-Down (Shift-Up)
Creates or extends the text selection to the end (beginning) of the line.
Shift-End (Shift-Home)
Creates or extends the text selection to the end (beginning) of the document.
Ctrl-Shift-End (Ctrl-Shift-Home)
Creates or extends the text selection one page down (up).