Eclipse: Text Editing Without Mouse

Question

I have bandage due to 5th metacarpal damage. Typing is no issue at all, I do hours of it and it's fine. Using a mouse... impossible. This is not about being a productivity ninja not losing the time it takes to reach for the trackpad or the mouse... it's actual being able to do some stuff or not at all for the moment. Anyway, here's the question, put simply and clearly:

• In an Eclipse editor, can I move around using the keyboard only?

Examples of actual things I would like to be able to do without using a mouse:

• Move the cursor to the end of the line
• Move the cursor to the beginning of the line
• Move the cursor one line down
• Move the cursor one line up
• Move the cursor one column left
• Move the cursor one column right
• Move the cursor one word left
• Move the cursor one work right
• Move the cursor to the end of the word
• Move the cursor to the beginning of the word
• Delete the character to the left of the cursor
• Delete the character to the right of the cursor
• etc.

I realise some of this is possible already using a mixture of END, HOME, CTRL/ALT + ARROW_KEY, etc. But it's not as comprehensive as, say, E-Macs or Vim.

As simple as that.

In Vim, I use j,k,h,l... in Xcode I use Emacs bindings (CTRL-N, CTRL-P, CTRL-H)... how can I use Eclipse in a similar way? I have heard of a "vim" plug-in but I really just need the cursor movement, that's it. Nothing else.

Should I just create custom shortcuts for each movement?!

Answer 1

• Going to the end of the line: End key
• Going to the start of the line: Home key
• Going one line down: down arrow key
• Move the cursor one line up: up arrow key
• Move the cursor one column left: don't know what you mean by column
• Move the cursor one column right: idem
• Move the cursor one word left: ctrl - left arrow key
• Move the cursor one word right: ctrl - right arrow key
• Move the cursor to the end of the word: no idea
• Move the cursor to the beginning of the word: ctrl - left arrow key
• Delete the character to the left of the cursor: backspace
• Delete the character to the right of the cursor: delete

This is on Windows. All the shortcuts are available in Window (Alt W) - Preferences (P) - General - Keys (type "Keys" in the filter text box). Most of the shortcuts above are standard shortcuts, which are used in every windows editor.

Answer 2

I found it :(

Preferences > General > Keys > Emacs

Answer 3

You can do almost everything with your keyboard:

Take a look here for a detailed list of shortcuts:

http://www.shortcutworld.com/en/win/Eclipse.html