Where is the location of the file that stores Mac keyboard shortcuts

keyboardshortcut

This file is used to edit or add special shortcuts that don't appear in the Mac menu bar or System Preferences. Some examples:

Ctrl-b → Move back one character
Ctrl-f → Move forward one character
Option-b → Move back one word
Option-f → Move forward one word

Editing this special shortcut text file made these commands work throughout all Mac applications. No issues still works! However, I am unable to locate this file's path again now that some time has passed. I want to fiddle with it some more.

Hints:

Plain text file.
The file in somewhere in ~/Library. No idea on the name.
Not looking for the System Preferences keyboard shortcuts.
Not the same file that stores the System Preferences keyboard shortcuts. (hard-part)
Editing this file will change the shortcut across all Mac applications, e.g. Safari, Notes, Finder, Pages, etc. This won't effect 3rd party apps. This behavior is desirable.

Best Answer

Cocoa text system keybinding defaults:

The standard key bindings are specified in /System/Library/Frameworks/AppKit.framework/Resources/StandardKeyBinding.dict

To override Cocoa text keybindings:

...create a file named DefaultKeyBinding.dict in ~/Library/KeyBindings/ and specify bindings to augment or replace the standard bindings. You may use the standard bindings file as a template. It is recommended that you use the Property List Editor application to edit a bindings dictionary. You may use another application such as TextEdit or Xcode, but if you do you must ensure the encoding of the saved file is UTF8.

https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/Cocoa/Conceptual/EventOverview/TextDefaultsBindings/TextDefaultsBindings.html

Related Solutions

MacOS – How to change Text-related keyboard shortcuts

According to this blog post, you can create a file called ~/Library/KeyBindings/DefaultKeyBinding.Dict (you might have to create the KeyBindings folder in your Library folder).

In that file, you need the following content:

{
   "@\UF702"  = "moveWordBackward:";
   "@\UF703"  = "moveWordForward:";    
}

(see the linked blog post for other Windows features you might want to recreate)

Not all programs that use text fields will use the default keybindings, but this will help with many programs.

MacOS – Mimic Xcode’s camelCase selection keyboard shortcuts in OS X

Sorry but what you want is not possible.

You could try adding the XCode keybindings that do this

"^\UF702" = "moveSubWordBackward:";                     /* Ctl-Left Arrow */
"^$\UF702" = "moveSubWordBackwardAndModifySelection:";  /* Ctl-Shift-Left Arrow */
"^\UF703" = "moveSubWordForward:";                      /* Ctl-Right Arrow */
"^$\UF703" = "moveSubWordForwardAndModifySelection:";   /* Ctl-Shift-Right Arrow */
"^\177" = "deleteSubWordBackward:";                     /* ctl-delete */
"^\UF728" = "deleteSubWordForward:";                    /* ctl-forwardDelete */

into your ~/Library/KeyBindings/DefaultKeyBindings.dict file but unless the application is written to respond to these methods, it won't work. As you've said, these methods are not part of the standard Text System so these calls in an app will just go unanswered or you will get a system beep.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

MacOS – How to change Text-related keyboard shortcuts

MacOS – Mimic Xcode’s camelCase selection keyboard shortcuts in OS X

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