MacOS – How to assign a keyboard shortcut to an application on Mac OS X

You can create a service like this:

Then give it a shortcut from System Preferences.

There is a delay of maybe 0.1 - 1 s before Automator services are run, and at least on my installations of 10.7 and 10.8, the shortcuts for services didn't always work until I hovered over the services menu from the menu bar. You might also use FastScripts to assign a shortcut to the script, or use a private.xml like this with KeyRemap4MacBook:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<root>
  <vkopenurldef>
    <name>KeyCode::VK_OPEN_URL_SHELL_TERMINAL</name>
    <url type="shell">osascript -e 'tell app "Terminal"' -e 'do script ""' -e activate -e end</url>
  </vkopenurldef>
  <item>
    <name>test</name>
    <identifier>test</identifier>
    <autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::F5, ModifierFlag::NONE, KeyCode::VK_OPEN_URL_SHELL_TERMINAL</autogen>
  </item>
</root>

If others look for a way to open Terminal and only create a new window if there are no existing windows, you can use a private.xml like this with KeyRemap4MacBook:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<root>
  <vkopenurldef>
    <name>KeyCode::VK_OPEN_URL_TERMINAL</name>
    <url>file:///Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app</url>
  </vkopenurldef>
  <item>
    <name>test</name>
    <identifier>test</identifier>
    <autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::F5, ModifierFlag::NONE, KeyCode::VK_OPEN_URL_TERMINAL</autogen>
  </item>
</root>

Or if you have bought the Powerpack for Alfred 2, you can create a workflow like this:

This will work while in Chrome:

• First highlight some text
• Hit CTRL+C - This copies the text
• Hit CTRL+T - This creates a new tab and makes it the focus
• Hit CTRL+V - This pastes the text in the Omnibox (Chrome defaults the cursor there)
• Hit Enter - This will search the text in the Omnibox

Want to automate it? Use AutoHotKey to make it an automatic macro using CTRL+Alt+S Use this script::

^!s::
  Send ^c
  Send ^t
  Send ^v
  Send {Enter}
Return

FYI, I tested this script and it works in Chrome.