Selecting and Typing in Notebooks

Mathematica has many special features that optimize the entry and editing of both ordinary text and Mathematica input in notebooks.

Making Selections

double-click — select a word or function name

triple-click — select a function and its arguments

repeated clicking — continue expanding selection

Ctrl+. — expand selection within a cell or beyond

Ctrl+A — select a whole notebook

Brackets & Syntax

Ctrl+Shift+B — match brackets

Help ► Why the Coloring? — find out why input is red or has other syntax coloring

Help & Command Completion

F1 — search for help on the name selected, or to the left

Shift+F1 — bring up a new instance of the help viewer

Ctrl+K — complete a command name, character name, etc.

Entering Styled Text

Alt+Enter — create a new cell of the same style as above

Alt+n — pick a style for a cell (4 for section heading, 7 for text, etc.)

Alt+0 — enter a style to use for a cell

Ctrl+B, Ctrl+I — toggle bold, italic

Alt++, Alt+- — make font larger, smaller

Entering Special Characters »

EscnameEsc — enter hundreds of special characters by short names

Math & Tabular Input »

(Ctrl+^ or Ctrl+6)  ▪ (Ctrl+_)  ▪ (Ctrl+/)  ▪ ...

Ctrl+Space — move out of a script position

Ctrl+Comma, Ctrl+Return — create a 2D grid

Ctrl+(, Ctrl+) — start, end an inline math cell in text, or text in math

Typing Shortcuts

Delete — delete next character

Shift+, Shift+ — extend selection back or forward

Ctrl+, Ctrl+ — skip back or forward a word

Ctrl+Shift+, Ctrl+Shift+ — extend selection back, forward a word

Cell Operations

, — move down or up inside or outside of cells

Ctrl+Shift+M, Ctrl+Shift+D — merge or divide cells

Ctrl+Shift+E — toggle to unformatted expression form of a cell

Shift+Alt+n — change cell style (4 for section heading, 7 for text, 9 for input, etc.)

TUTORIALS

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