How can I navigate back to the last cursor position in Visual Studio Code?

Question

What is the keyboard shortcut to navigate back to the last cursor position in Visual Studio Code?

• Sami Kuhmonen: If it's the usual VS keymap I'm used to it's Ctrl -
• kimsagro: In Visual Studio Code that shortcut corresponds to "Zoom Out:
• OderWat: I think you mix up Mac OSX and Windows defaults here. CTR + - actually is the shortcut on OSX while CMD + - does zoom out there.
• George Paoli: Use Visual Studio Keymap extension - marketplace.visualstudio.com/…
• sudormrfbin: As of VS Code 1.28, you can go to the last edit location using Ctrl+K Ctrl+Q - code.visualstudio.com/updates/…

Answer 1

The keyboard shortcut commands are Go Forward and Go Back.

---

On Windows:

Alt + ← ... navigate back

Alt + → ... navigate forward

On Mac:

Ctrl + - ... navigate back

Ctrl + Shift + - ... navigate forward

On Ubuntu Linux:

Ctrl + Alt + - ... navigate back

Ctrl + Shift + - ... navigate forward

• RayLoveless: I wonder why Microsoft decided to have different hot keys than regular visual studio. This is very annoying switching having to switch back and forth.
• rynop: Can you do this with your mouse? In other IDEs the back gesture/button navigates back as well.
• Chris Owens: Kind of an annoying binding for windows, unfortunately :( Would've been good to have the same as visual studio.
• Lenny: @RayLoveless VS Code is made by Microsoft so the Windows shortcut is the default. Alt+← is a system shortcut on linux and mac so they had to change it.
• Alex: searching workbench.action.navigateBack & workbench.action.navigateForward under Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts worked for me, since I had an extension changing the default behaviour

Answer 2

I am on Mac OS X, so I can't answer for Windows users:

I added a custom keymap entry and set it to Ctrl + ← + Ctrl + →, while the original default is Ctrl + - and Ctrl + Shift + - (which translates to Ctrl + ß and Ctrl + Shift+ß on my German keyboard).

One can simply modify it in the user keymap settings:

{ "key": "ctrl+left", "command": "workbench.action.navigateBack" },
{ "key": "ctrl+right", "command": "workbench.action.navigateForward" }

For the accepted answer I actually wonder. Alt + ← / Alt + → jumps wordwise for me (which is kind of standard in all editors). Did they really do this mapping for the Windows version?

• duong_dajgja: Ctrl+Left and Ctrl+Right are reserved for switching between full-screens, aren't they?
• OderWat: @duong_dajgja I have that on Ctrl+Option+Command Left / Right. Most people will usually just use the three finger wipe on their Trackpad. I am not sure whats the "original" default in a fresh installed OS X Sierra though. At least there is nothing reserved in OS X. You can easily change that in the system preferences "keyboard -> mission control".
• Average Joe: Use this to make those changes code.visualstudio.com/docs/getstarted/…
• Firzok Nadeem: Is there a way I can assign my mouse forward and backward buttons to navigate?
• Benyamin Jafari: Great answer. Also you can find it through File → Preferences → Keyboard Shortcuts then searching Go Back and Go Forward

Answer 3

This will be different for each OS, based on the information in Key Bindings for Visual Studio Code .

Workbench configuration:

Go Back: workbench.action.navigateBack
Go Forward: workbench.action.navigateForward

Linux:

Go Back: Ctrl+Alt+-
Go Forward: Ctrl+Shift+-

Mac OS X:

Go Back: Ctrl + -
Go Forward: Ctrl + Shift (⇧) + -

Windows:

Go Back: Alt + ⬅️
Go Forward: Alt + ➡️

• greuze: I'm using linux and the default keymap didn't work. I modified to Alt+Left and worked like a charm.
• pdem: File/preferences/Keyboard shortcut [Ctrl-K Ctrl-S] then search "workbench.action.navigateBack". Had to set it on Linux.

Answer 4

To answer for your question, for:

1. Windows use Alt+← for backward, and Alt+→ for forward navigation.
2. macOS use Ctrl+- for backward, and Ctrl+Shift+- for forward navigation.
3. Linux use Ctrl+Alt+- for backward, and Ctrl+Shift+- for forward navigation.

You can find the current key-bindings in "Keyboard Shortcuts editor."

You can even edit the key-binding as per your preference.

• Perrier: You have switched windows and mac bindings.
• Help others: as perrier said you have switched the window and mac

Answer 5

To set your own keyboard shortcuts (even if that particular keyboard-combo is already taken) you can go to Code > Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts and set them up there.

1. Open Settings: Code > Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts
2. Find Go Forward and Go Back and set them to whatever you like.
3. If a key shortcut is double-assigned VSCode will tell you, and you can click-in and change/remove the other ones. eg. by shortcuts were already assigned to indent-in and indent-out.

gif showing the process of setting up the new keyboard shortcuts

eg. our main tool is Android Studio on a mac which uses cmd+[ and cmd+] for forward and backward). This is especially powerful with a cmd+click for drilling into functions. (so you can follow your code as if it was an Ariadne's thread in a Minotaur labyrinth. Does help! ( so you jump around the code, diving in and out of functions, and back between files.

• Dentrax: I'm on Mac with VSCode 1.87.2 and I don't have Code > Preferences settings. The new option is: Code > Settings... > Keyboard Shortcuts or CMD+K+S.

Answer 6

There is an extension available named Code-Navigation for all the platforms. As an alternative to the keyboard shortcuts it adds buttons to the left side of the status bar.

enter image description here

enter image description here

• Karthic Raghupathi: Apparently now this is built into VSCode: stackoverflow.com/a/75892641/399435
• Godwin Mathias: Good call @KarthicRaghupathi I didn't even notice!

Answer 7

For macOS:

⌘ + U: Undo the last cursor operation

You can also try Ctrl + -.

BTW, all the shortcuts are in Keyboard shortcuts for macOS . This is really useful!

• panepeter: Thanks so much for this answer! While all the others actually tell you how to navigate back and forth through different files, I was interested in navigating the cursor history. You could add (although it's kinda obvious) that there's the redo cursor operation to go with it.

Answer 8

vscode v1.65 is adding a number of new commands for navigating to the last/next edit location or the last/next cursor location.

An edit location means there was an actual edit, whereas a cursor location means that you visited that location but may not necessarily have made an edit there.

By default, editor navigation locations are added whenever you navigate across editors but also when navigating within editors (for example, when switching notebook cells or changing selection in text editors). If you feel that too many locations are being recorded, new commands have been added that reduce locations to either:

• Navigation locations (for example when using Go to Definition)
• Edit locations (whenever an editor is changed, for example when typing in a text editor)

• from https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-docs/blob/vnext/release-notes/v1_65.md

Cursor locations:

Go Forward in Navigation Locations
"workbench.action.navigateForwardInNavigationLocations"
Go Back in Navigation Locations
"workbench.action.navigateBackInNavigationLocations"
Go to Last Navigation Location
 // acts like a toggle between current and last cursor location
"workbench.action.navigateToLastNavigationLocation"
Go Previous in Navigation Locations
"workbench.action.navigatePreviousInNavigationLocations"

Edit locations:

Go Forward in Edit Locations
"workbench.action.navigateForwardInEditLocations"
Go Back in Edit Locations
"workbench.action.navigateBackInEditLocations"
Go Previous in Edit Locations
"workbench.action.navigatePreviousInEditLocations"
Go to Last Edit Location
 // acts like a toggle between current and last edit location
"workbench.action.navigateToLastEditLocation"

Associated context keys have been added to make assigning keybindings more powerful:

• canNavigateBackInNavigationLocations: Whether it is possible to go back in navigation locations
• canNavigateForwardInNavigationLocations: Whether it is possible to go forward in navigation locations
• canNavigateToLastNavigationLocation: Whether it is possible to go to the last navigation location
• canNavigateBackInEditLocations: Whether it is possible to go back in edit locations
• canNavigateForwardInEditLocations: Whether it is possible to go forward in edit locations
• canNavigateToLastEditLocation: Whether it is possible to go to the last edit location

Answer 9

Mac OS (MacBook Pro):

Back: Ctrl(control) + - (hyphen)

Back forward: Ctrl + Shift + - (hyphen)

Answer 10

Use Alt + ← / →

You can find all shortcuts in Key Bindings for Visual Studio Code .

Answer 11

As an alternative to the keyboard shortcuts, there is an extension named "Back and Forward buttons" that adds the forward and back buttons to the status bar.

• Ilya Serbis: These arrows are now accessible out of the box. They are to the left of the search field in the window title.

Answer 12

Last Edit Position v. Last Navigation Position

Go To Last Edit Position:

Ctrl+k Ctrl+q

This was mentioned in sudormfbin's comment but not listed as an answer. This is what I want to do 99% of the time when I think "where was I now?". It is the easiest quickest way to get back to your last position without taking your fingers off keyboard to use the arrow keys and without installing extensions, etc.

Navigate Recent Cursor Positions:

ALT+ ← Back

ALT+→ Forward

Most of the other posted solutions refer to this - moving between "Navigation Locations", i.e., navigating between editor tabs OR within an editor (e.g., you move the cursor on one line, then click on a line 20 spaces above).

For navigating between editor tabs, instead of the above you can do Ctrl+Tab as it will sort all of the tabs in most recent order so you have option to go to others or just release and go back to the last used one. Also without taking fingers off keyboard.

Answer 13

You can go to menu File → Preferences → Keyboard Shortcuts. Once you are there, you can search for navigate. Then, you will see all shortcuts set for your Visual Studio Code environment related to navigation. In my case, it was only Alt + - to get my cursor back.

• Peter Mortensen: Ctrl + Alt + - on Linux (Visual Studio Code 1.54.3 on Ubuntu MATE 20.04 (Focal Fossa)).

Answer 14

While the accepted answer is correct, anyone using the Vim extension for VS Code may be frustrated by the fact that navigating backwards takes you through every single cursor movement you've made. This prevents "Go back" from working well for use cases like:

1. Go to Definition
2. Poke around at the definition for a while (i.e., move the cursor around)
3. Go Back to where you were in step 1.

With the Vim extension installed, you'll be stuck doing "Go Back" for every cursor movement you've made (and for me, that's enough to make it almost useless!).

Fortunately, the Vim extension implements jumplists well, so after using VS Code to jump to a new position (i.e., "Go to definition"), you can simply do CTRL+O to go back to the previous jump location.

Answer 15

if you want you can also define your own keybindings for navigation

 {
 "command": "workbench.action.navigateForward",
 "key": "cmd+alt+[ArrowRight]"
 },
 {
 "command": "workbench.action.navigateBack",
 "key": "cmd+alt+[ArrowLeft]"
 },

Answer 16

With Visual Studio Code 1.43 (Q1 2020), those Alt+← / Alt+→, or Ctrl+- / Ctrl+Shift+- will also... preserve selection.

See issue 89699:

Benjamin Pasero (bpasero) adds:

going back/forward restores selections as they were.

Note that in order to get a history entry there needs to be at least 10 lines between the positions to consider the entry as new entry.

Go back/Forward selection -- https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/900690/73729489-6ca7da80-4735-11ea-9345-1228f0302110.gif

Answer 17

There are several ways to go back and options to go back in vs code.

To change any of the following things, go to command pannel by pressing ctrl + p and then after typing a >, type what config you need to change:

enter image description here

Then all you need to do is click on the Settings icon (as pointed by 2 in the image) and change the key binding to whatever you want.

Different options you have for going back:

1. Go to the Last Edit Location
2. Cursor Undo (meaning: go to last cursor location)
3. Cursor Redo (Opposite of above)

• Ilya Serbis: Ctrl+Shift+P brings you directly to the Commands list (eliminates the need to type >)

Answer 18

I am on macOS (Sequoia 15.1.1), M4 Macbook Pro and I was able to achieve the cursor movements (back and forth) using Command + Option + Left / Right by default without making any changes to my system.

Answer 19

Best way is to use ctrl/command + P and then type "navigate back" and see the shortcut when you forget the shortcut or are trying to memorize. You can also use this for all shortcuts.