Navigation within Notepad++
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Okay, I feel really stupid. But first, a little background.
I first began using NP++ in ’16 after a coworker recommended it, and I quickly fell in love with it. I used it extensively at that job, coding mainly in Perl with some C, C++, and a little JS. I had become quite adept with it.
But it’s been several years now since I last used it, and now I’ve started up with it again. But I am struggling a bit with navigation is my source files. I want to do some tasks as simple as 1) jumping to the top of the file, 2) jumping to the end of the file, or 3) jumping to a specific line number. Of course, I can just scroll through the file to the desired location, but that gets more awkward with larger and larger files. I’ve also been an expert Vim user, and with Vim, it’s easy to do this sort of navigation. Then, going WAY back, in the Windows 3.1 days, I used a share-ware command-line editor called PC-Write, which I had customized extensively to my personal needs. With both Vim and PC-Write, I could mark locations in a file being edited and then quickly jump to any of those locations at will.
I feel certain that NP++ must certainly have similar navigation features, but I have searched the online manual, as well as the FAQs and forums, and I can find nothing on this topic. I would have expected there to be a section in the manual titled something like “Navigating Through Your Source File”, but I see nothing of the sort.
Please tell me I‘m just being clueless here and point me in the right direction.
Thank you in advance for your guidance.
Although I don‘t see that it’s applicable, here‘s my Debug Info:
Notepad++ v8.7.8 (64-bit)
Build time : Mar 7 2025 - 20:39:25
Path : C:\Program Files\Notepad++\notepad++.exe
Command Line : “C:\Users\Steve\Documents\AutoHotkey\Steve’sKeys.ahk”
Admin mode : OFF
Local Conf mode : OFF
Cloud Config : OFF
Periodic Backup : ON
Placeholders : OFF
Scintilla Rendering Mode : SC_TECHNOLOGY_DIRECTWRITE (1)
Multi-instance Mode : monoInst
File Status Auto-Detection : cdEnabledNew (for current file/tab only)
Dark Mode : OFF
OS Name : Windows 11 Pro (64-bit)
OS Version : 23H2
OS Build : 22631.5126
Current ANSI codepage : 1252
Plugins :
mimeTools (3.1)
NppConverter (4.6)
NppExport (0.4) -
@Steven-Georgiades said in Navigation within Notepad++:
- jumping to the top of the file
Ctrl+Home
- jumping to the end of the file
Ctrl+End
These are common Windows OS ones:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/keyboard-shortcuts-in-windows-dcc61a57-8ff0-cffe-9796-cb9706c75eec#textediting- jumping to a specific line number.
Ctrl+G
@Steven-Georgiades said in Navigation within Notepad++:
I could mark locations in a file being edited and then quickly jump to
Ctrl+F2 (then F2/Shift+F2, look on the menu Search > Bookmark)
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@xomx, great, thank you. I knew they had to be there. So the problem is in the manual (or my ability to search it), not in NP++ itself. Thank you so much!
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@Steven-Georgiades said in Navigation within Notepad++:
So the problem is in the manual (or my ability to search it), not in NP++ itself
Top/End: As @xomx said,
Ctrl+HomeandCtrl+Endhave been stanard keyboard shortcuts in Windows for decades. The User Manual it about telling you the things that are unique to Notepad++, not the stuff that works identically in nearly every Windows application since Windows 3.11.Specific line number: Other Search Menu Commands documents the “Go to” action.
The
Ctrl+Gshortcut, though not documented there, is the same in modern Microsoft Notepad (at least the UWP version that came with my new Windows 11; I don’t remember whether the oldnotepad.exehad that feature or not), and the same as in Visual Studio.(The User Manual doesn’t always mention the keyboard shortcut for every action; but they are almost all customizable in the Shortcut Mapper, so what is documented might not be the same as your settings anyway, and to find out the current setting, looking in the appropriate menu or Shortcut Mapper tab is sufficient.)
Mark locations: see Manipulating Bookmarks (and once again, once you know which menu, you can look at the menu to see your keyboard shortcut, and can also find it or change it in the Shortcut Mapper)
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@PeterJones said in Navigation within Notepad++:
The User Manual doesn’t always mention the keyboard shortcut for every action
The script in this 2019 post by @Ekopalypse will list all the current keyboard shortcuts (it pages through all the pages of Shortcut Mapper for you). Back in that discussion, the Notepad++ v7.7.1 shortcuts were shown a few posts lower than that.
Since there hasn’t been a recent posting:
Default Shortcuts for Notepad++ v8.7.9
New : Ctrl+N Open... : Ctrl+O Reload from Disk : Ctrl+R Save : Ctrl+S Save As... : Ctrl+Alt+S Save All : Ctrl+Shift+S Close : Ctrl+W Close All : Ctrl+Shift+W Print... : Ctrl+P Restore Recent Closed File : Ctrl+Shift+T Exit : Alt+F4 Cut : Shift+DEL Cut : Ctrl+X Copy : Ctrl+INS Copy : Ctrl+C Paste : Shift+INS Paste : Ctrl+V Begin/End Select : Ctrl+Shift+B Begin/End Select in Column Mode : Alt+Shift+B UPPERCASE : Ctrl+Shift+U lowercase : Ctrl+U Proper Case : Alt+U Proper Case (blend) : Alt+Shift+U Sentence case : Ctrl+Alt+U Sentence case (blend) : Ctrl+Alt+Shift+U Split Lines : Ctrl+I Join Lines : Ctrl+J Move Up Current Line : Ctrl+Shift+Up Move Down Current Line : Ctrl+Shift+Down Insert Blank Line Above Current : Ctrl+Alt+Enter Insert Blank Line Below Current : Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Enter Toggle Single Line Comment : Ctrl+Q Single Line Comment : Ctrl+K Single Line Uncomment : Ctrl+Shift+K Block Comment : Ctrl+Shift+Q Function Completion : Ctrl+Spacebar Path Completion : Ctrl+Alt+Spacebar Word Completion : Ctrl+Enter Function Parameters Hint : Ctrl+Shift+Spacebar Function Parameters Previous Hint : Alt+Up Function Parameters Next Hint : Alt+Down Column Editor... : Alt+C Find... : Ctrl+F Find in Files... : Ctrl+Shift+F Find Next : F3 Find Previous : Shift+F3 Select and Find Next : Ctrl+F3 Select and Find Previous : Ctrl+Shift+F3 Find (Volatile) Next : Ctrl+Alt+F3 Find (Volatile) Previous : Ctrl+Alt+Shift+F3 Replace... : Ctrl+H Incremental Search : Ctrl+Alt+I Search Results Window : F7 Previous Search Result : Shift+F4 Next Search Result : F4 Go to... : Ctrl+G Go to Matching Brace : Ctrl+B Select All In-between {} [] or () : Ctrl+Alt+B Mark... : Ctrl+M Previous style of 1st style : Ctrl+Shift+1 Previous style of 2nd style : Ctrl+Shift+2 Previous style of 3rd style : Ctrl+Shift+3 Previous style of 4th style : Ctrl+Shift+4 Previous style of 5th style : Ctrl+Shift+5 Previous style of Find Mark style : Ctrl+Shift+0 Next style of 1st style : Ctrl+1 Next style of 2nd style : Ctrl+2 Next style of 3rd style : Ctrl+3 Next style of 4th style : Ctrl+4 Next style of 5th style : Ctrl+5 Next style of Find Mark style : Ctrl+0 Toggle Bookmark : Ctrl+F2 Next Bookmark : F2 Previous Bookmark : Shift+F2 Toggle Full Screen Mode : F11 Post-It : F12 1st Tab : Ctrl+Numpad 1 2nd Tab : Ctrl+Numpad 2 3rd Tab : Ctrl+Numpad 3 4th Tab : Ctrl+Numpad 4 5th Tab : Ctrl+Numpad 5 6th Tab : Ctrl+Numpad 6 7th Tab : Ctrl+Numpad 7 8th Tab : Ctrl+Numpad 8 9th Tab : Ctrl+Numpad 9 Next Tab : Ctrl+Page down Previous Tab : Ctrl+Page up Move Tab Forward : Ctrl+Shift+Page down Move Tab Backward : Ctrl+Shift+Page up Switch to previous document : Ctrl+Shift+Tab Switch to next document : Ctrl+Tab Hide Lines : Alt+H Focus on Another View : F8 Fold All : Alt+0 Unfold All : Alt+Shift+0 Fold Current Level : Ctrl+Alt+F Unfold Current Level : Ctrl+Alt+Shift+F Fold Level 1 : Alt+1 Fold Level 2 : Alt+2 Fold Level 3 : Alt+3 Fold Level 4 : Alt+4 Fold Level 5 : Alt+5 Fold Level 6 : Alt+6 Fold Level 7 : Alt+7 Fold Level 8 : Alt+8 Unfold Level 1 : Alt+Shift+1 Unfold Level 2 : Alt+Shift+2 Unfold Level 3 : Alt+Shift+3 Unfold Level 4 : Alt+Shift+4 Unfold Level 5 : Alt+Shift+5 Unfold Level 6 : Alt+Shift+6 Unfold Level 7 : Alt+Shift+7 Unfold Level 8 : Alt+Shift+8 Text Direction RTL : Ctrl+Alt+R Text Direction LTR : Ctrl+Alt+L Toggle macro recording : Ctrl+Shift+R Playback : Ctrl+Shift+P Run... : F5 About Notepad++ : F1 Trim Trailing Space and Save : Alt+Shift+S Get PHP help : Alt+F1 Wikipedia Search : Alt+F3 Open selected file path in new instance : Alt+F6 SCI_SELECTALL : Ctrl+A SCI_CLEAR : DEL SCI_UNDO : Ctrl+Z or Alt+Backspace SCI_REDO : Ctrl+Y or Ctrl+Shift+Z SCI_NEWLINE : Enter or Shift+Enter SCI_TAB : Tab SCI_BACKTAB : Shift+Tab SCI_ZOOMIN : Ctrl+Num + SCI_ZOOMOUT : Ctrl+Num - SCI_SETZOOM : Ctrl+Num / SCI_SELECTIONDUPLICATE : Ctrl+D SCI_EDITTOGGLEOVERTYPE : INS SCI_LINEDOWN : Down SCI_LINEDOWNEXTEND : Shift+Down SCI_LINEDOWNRECTEXTEND : Alt+Shift+Down SCI_LINESCROLLDOWN : Ctrl+Down SCI_LINEUP : Up SCI_LINEUPEXTEND : Shift+Up SCI_LINEUPRECTEXTEND : Alt+Shift+Up SCI_LINESCROLLUP : Ctrl+Up SCI_PARADOWN : Ctrl+] SCI_PARADOWNEXTEND : Ctrl+Shift+] SCI_PARAUP : Ctrl+[ SCI_PARAUPEXTEND : Ctrl+Shift+[ SCI_CHARLEFT : Left SCI_CHARLEFTEXTEND : Shift+Left SCI_CHARLEFTRECTEXTEND : Alt+Shift+Left SCI_CHARRIGHT : Right SCI_CHARRIGHTEXTEND : Shift+Right SCI_CHARRIGHTRECTEXTEND : Alt+Shift+RightIn theory, that list could be added to an appendix for the User Manual… but while generating the list would be easy, manually linking those 150 lines to appropriate sections of the Manual would be a nightmare. And without that linkage, I am not sure how useful “just a list” would be.
