Hotkey for copying text as you type

Question

When I'm programming I often use copy and paste, which requires me to grab the mouse, highlight the text, and press ctrl+C (I'm using Windows BTW). Is there any hotkey or solution out there for a keyboard short cut that I could press and have it start copying each character I type? It would be such a godsend to get rid of that whole highlighting mess!

Answer 1

Shift-left and Shift-right will select text forward and backup.

Most editors have a lot more (control-shift-left for selecting to next word boundary for instance) but depends on the application.

Answer 2

Depending on how long your code is, you can always do Shift + End, then CTRL + C to copy the line, providing that you're at the end of the line. Shift + Home would select the preceding line if you're at the beginning of the line, etc.

Answer 3

You can probably develop a quick application that does that in VB (via global hotkey listener). But for me, I am a keyboard shortcut nerd, and I use Control+Shift+Left/Right Arrow to navigate the caret through "words" (sometimes that means every non-alphanumeric token, but it varies on the IDE you're using) that I want to copy--It's much faster than Shift+Left/Right Arrow. I also use this combination frequently: End, Shift+Home, Control+C, which is a quick way to select and copy the whole line.

I can see where you're coming from with the "toggling copy", but I think using the full extent of the keyboard, while primitive, is the best and most practical.