I don't actually know why it is set to be Ctrl + W but to answer your other question: To change the default tab closing behaviour, go to Settings > Shortcut Mapper. Change the Close shortcut [8] to Ctrl + F4
Update
The functionality is included by default in Notepad++ v6.4.5 and later. 6.4.5 was released August 9th 2013. Note the current version is 7.5.8 released July 23rd 2018.
If you are using a version of Notepad++ older than v6.4.5, the rest of this answer still applies.
Natively
You can do this natively in Notepad++, but in order to replicate the behaviour of Firefox, you need to disable the document switcher and MRU behaviour.
Disable MRU functionality
- Navigate to Settings > Preferences... > MISC..
- Where it says Document Switcher (Ctrl+TAB) uncheck the first check box Enable.
- Hit the Close button.
Create the Ctrl+PGUP/PGDN shortcuts
- Navigate to Settings > Shortcut Mapper....
- Make sure you are on the Main menu tab.
- Scroll to the bottom and you should see in entries 192 Switch to previous document and 193 Switch to next document.
- By default these should be mapped to Ctrl+Shift+Tab and Ctrl+Tab respectively.
- Double click anywhere on the 192 line and change it to Ctrl+Page up.
- Double click anywhere on the 193 line and change it to Ctrl+Page down.
- Hit the Close button.
That's it!
Please note that you will no longer have access to the Ctrl+Tab/Shift+Tab MRU behaviour now. If, like me, you cannot live without this read on.
Another (better) option
Notepad++ defaults to using the back and forward buttons on a mouse to switch to the adjacent left and right tabs, so if you are a fan of AutoHotkey, you can use this little script:
#IfWinActive, ahk_class Notepad++
; Switch to the adjacent tab to the left
^PgUp::
Send, {XButton1}
Return
; Switch to the adjacent tab to the right
^PgDn::
Send, {XButton2}
Return
This won't interfere with other programs and enables to you have your cake and eat it! You can navigate left and right through adjacent the tabs using Ctrl+PgUp and Ctrl+PgDn and you can still switch to your last used tab using the built-in document switcher functionality using Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab - just like Firefox :)
Best Answer
Press Home then Shift+End.
End then Shift+Home can also be used. If you need to select the line from the very beginning instead of the first indented character, press Home twice.
You can also record this as a macro and then set a shortcut to that macro. However Ctrl+A is used as select all in almost all text editors and textboxes, thus changing it could make things more confusing. Use another shortcut instead
If you just want to copy/cut/delete the lines, there are already shortcuts for you:
There are also other actions without default shortcuts like line transpose, line join, line duplicate... Just select Settings > Shortcut mapper > Scintilla commands, select
SCI_LINETRANSPOSE/SCI_LINEDUPLICATE/SCI_LINESJOIN... and assign them.If Ctrl+Shift+T doesn't work for you then it's because the shortcut has been assigned to 2 different features, causing a conflict as PryrtCJ answered below. In newer Notepad++ line copy has been changed to Ctrl+Shift+X, and a shortcut conflict warning has also been added, making life a bit easier
See Lists of default mouse and keyboard shortcuts for Notepad++ and some plugins
If you're using a mouse, single click the line number on the left or triple click in the line also do the trick.