How do I skip a match when using Ctrl+D for multiple selections in Sublime Text 2?

Question

I have some code like:

testVar = { a: 1 };
testVariable1 = 2;
var c = testVar.a + testVariable2;
var d = testVar;

I want to rename "testVar" variable. When I set multiple cursors with Ctrl+D and edit variable, "testVariable" is also selected and edited.

Is there a way to skip some selections while setting multiple cursors with Ctrl+D?

This applies to VS Code as well, which purposely tried to mimic Sublime behavior for multiple cursors. — John Y, Aug 12 '22 at 17:38

score 308 · Accepted Answer · edited May 21 '14 at 11:04

308

Just use Ctrl+K, Ctrl+D.

(for OS X: Cmd+K, Cmd+D)

Needs a bit of practice, but gets the job done!

edited May 21 '14 at 11:04

skywinder

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answered Jul 18 '12 at 20:27

Romain

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@Qwerty: Alt+F3 Selects all occurrences. – Emil Stenström May 17 '14 at 15:16
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@Romain wrote "Needs a bit of practice". I think what that means is that it could be more intuitive. Don't press the key combo until what you want to skip is highlighted. E.g. if you have 3 matches, and you want to skip the 2nd, first highlight the 1st, press CTRL+D to highlight the 2nd, THEN press the key combo to skip the 2nd match and highlight the 3rd. Help? – Tyler Collier Oct 09 '14 at 23:02
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Add this to user keymap and shorten the practice time to nearly 0! `{ "keys": ["ctrl+alt+d"], "command": "find_under_expand_skip" }` – Mrchief Oct 07 '15 at 17:51
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Updated answer, in keybindings,json add this line: { "key": "ctrl+alt+d", "command": "editor.action.moveSelectionToNextFindMatch", "when": "editorFocus" }, – bevo009 Jan 26 '20 at 00:41

SUB0DH · Answer 2 · 2018-03-03T22:46:46.187

You can press Ctrl+K and Ctrl+D at the same time to skip a selection. If you went too far with your selection, you can use Ctrl+U to return to a previous selection.

Note: Replace Ctrl with Cmd for Mac OS X.

The default configuration for this can be viewed by going to Preferences > Key Bindings-Default in the application menubar, where you will see something like this:

{ "keys": ["ctrl+d"], "command": "find_under_expand" },
{ "keys": ["ctrl+k", "ctrl+d"], "command": "find_under_expand_skip" }

If you want, you can configure the keys as per your needs, by going to Preferences > Key Bindings-User and copy the above code and then change the keys.

score 65 · Answer 3 · edited May 20 '14 at 09:58

65

If you have the cursor over the word and use Ctrl + D to select the word. The next time you hit Ctrl + D it should select the next highlighted word.

If you double click to select word, Ctrl + D will select the exact string not just the highlighted ones.

In other words, Ctrl + D with nothing highlighted does whole-word search. If you have something highlighted already, Ctrl + D will do substring searching.

I have tested and it works in Sublime Text 2 Version 2.0.1, Build 2217.

edited May 20 '14 at 09:58

Benjamin Hodgson

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answered Apr 17 '13 at 19:30

Atomicflare

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This is actually the only true solution to this problem. People are upvoting brainlessly. – Qwerty May 05 '14 at 10:27
`ctrl`+`D` **with nothing selected** is **Case sensitive** too. – venkatvb Jun 04 '15 at 09:18
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@vankatvb I'm not finding that to be true... `Ctrl`+`D` with nothing selected is still case-insensitive to me. It'll outline only case-sensitive matches, but actually using the shortcut or `Alt`+`F3` will select those that don't match case. – Schism Aug 17 '15 at 15:00
Btw here's the same answer in another question: http://stackoverflow.com/a/18422707/782045 – interestinglythere Sep 29 '16 at 18:44
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@Qwerty it is not the "only true solution", it is as much of a solution as `ctrl-k ctrl-d`. Both have their use case. This answer, for example, is not useful when the search string is not surrounded by whitespace. Randomly calling people brainless is not very helpful either. – phil294 Apr 17 '21 at 21:14
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@phil294 Back in the day I was a different person. I wish I could change the comment now. – Qwerty Apr 19 '21 at 09:53

score 13 · Answer 4 · edited Mar 04 '18 at 08:19

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Place curser before the variable, do not select the variable, hit Ctrl+D to select every occurence of the variable, not pattern.

edited Mar 04 '18 at 08:19

AlessioX

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answered Jan 23 '17 at 12:44

n1nj4

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score 11 · Answer 5 · answered Jan 26 '20 at 00:47

Updated answer for vscode in 2020 on windows, in keybindings.json add this line to skip the next selected occurrence easily:

  {
    "key": "ctrl+alt+d",
    "command": "editor.action.moveSelectionToNextFindMatch",
    "when": "editorFocus"
  },

*yes I know the question is for sublime text, but I found it by googling the same question + vscode, so it might help someone since the mappings are identical.

score 2 · Answer 6 · answered Jul 08 '21 at 09:55

I think I get why it was confusing to me: This is not skipping, it's unselecting.

You hit Ctrl+D as usual and if you select one by mistake you do Ctrl+K, D where you first press the K and then the D without letting go the Ctrl. This unselects the selection.

How do I skip a match when using Ctrl+D for multiple selections in Sublime Text 2?

6 Answers6

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