Select code block or paragraph in VS Code/R

Question

I would like to select an R code block via a shortcut.

At the moment I am using CTRL+L to select the current line and CTRL+ALT+UP/DOWN to expand the selection. This, however, is cumbersome.

Is there any way to tell VS Code to select everything in a paragraph?

Example:

library(dplyr)

starwars %>% 
  filter(species == "Droid")

starwars %>% 
  |mutate(name, bmi = mass / ((height / 100)  ^ 2)) %>% # <- The cursor is where "|" is for example
  select(name:mass, bmi)

This is what should be selected in this example:

starwars %>% 
  mutate(name, bmi = mass / ((height / 100)  ^ 2)) %>%
  select(name:mass, bmi)

Answer 1

This could be done with the aid of an extension. See, e.g., the Select By extension in which you can specify the starting and ending regex within the keybinding. Keybinding:

{
  "key": "alt+q",               // whatever you want
  "command": "selectby.regex",
  "args": {
    "flags": "m",
    "backward": "^\\w",        // since your block starts flush left apparently
    "forward": "\n^$",         // stop at first empty line
    "forwardInclude": false,
    "backwardInclude": true
  }
}

---

Here is one that I wrote: Jump and Select. Use this keybinding:

{
  "key": "alt+q",                          // whatever keybinding you want 
  "command": "jump-and-select.jumpBackwardSelect",
  "args": {
    "text": "^\\w",
    "putCursorBackward": "beforeCharacter",
    "restrictSearch": "document"
  }
}

This should select from the cursor back to the first blank line (given your well-structured code examples).

---

To select the block from anywhere, you also need a macro extension like multi-command and this keybinding:

{
  "key": "alt+q",
  "command": "extension.multiCommand.execute",
  "args": {
    // "interval": 200,
    "sequence": [
      {
        "command": "jump-and-select.jumpBackward",
        "args": {
          "text": "^\\w",
          "putCursorBackward": "beforeCharacter",
        }
      },
      {
        "command": "jump-and-select.jumpForwardSelect",
        "args": {
          "text": "^[^\\w]$\n?",
          "putCursorBackward": "afterCharacter",
        }
      }
    ]
  },
  "when": "editorFocus"
},

---