Select Mac text by word or line boundary
Add Shift to Option-arrow or Command-arrow navigation to extend a text selection by words or line boundaries.
- Scope
- macOS · Current vendor documentation checked 3 November 2026; no running-app compatibility test is claimed.
- Keyboard and customization
- Documented Mac defaults; punctuation and function keys depend on keyboard layout and hardware.. User bindings, app versions, focused controls and installed extensions can change a command. Inspect the active app menu or its shortcut editor when a listed combination differs.
- Review basis
- Documentation reviewed 2026-11-03 by Codex — primary-documentation and editorial review; no hands-on runtime test. These bindings were not tested in a running app for this guide.
Place the insertion point first
Click in an editable paragraph and check that an insertion cursor is visible. These commands act on text focus, not on whichever label you happen to be looking at elsewhere in a window. Start with a short paragraph so you can see exactly which characters are selected before applying formatting or replacing the selection.
Choose the boundary rather than counting letters
Word-based selection is useful for replacing a phrase in the middle of a sentence. Line-boundary selection is useful for an unfinished line or heading. Wrapped text can make the visual result depend on the editor, so verify the highlighted range before typing. The same symbol combination can behave differently in a custom code editor.
Correct an overshoot safely
If the range extends too far, release the modifiers and reposition the insertion point rather than typing into an uncertain selection. A selection itself has not changed the document. That makes it a useful low-risk movement to practise before adding deletion or formatting commands to the workflow.
Documented commands for this workflow
Scroll the table sideways to see every column.
| Action | Keys | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Extend left by a word | Option-Shift-Left Arrow | Uses the text editor’s word boundaries. ↗ |
| Extend right by a word | Option-Shift-Right Arrow | Check punctuation and hyphenated words in the active editor. ↗ |
| Select to line start | Shift-Command-Left Arrow | Extends from the insertion point to the current line’s beginning. ↗ |
| Select to line end | Shift-Command-Right Arrow | Extends toward the end of the current line. ↗ |
Sources and corrections
- Mac keyboard shortcuts — Apple Support — checked 2026-11-03
Found a mismatch? Email pashaseenainc@gmail.com with your app version, macOS version, keyboard layout and the command. Please leave personal document names out.
Keep going
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