A Handy Text Editing Tip

Here's a little tip that make editing code a bit easier. It's not guaranteed to work with all software, but it does work in a LOT of places.

Instead of pointing, clicking, and then dragging the mouse pointer to select a word of text, just point the mouse anywhere in the word, and double click it. On most popular platforms, doing this will instantly select the entire word. No need to pinpoint the exact spot where the word begins or ends, just double-click anywhere in it and you've got it selected.

Ok, you selected your word, now what? You want to replace it with another word? Just start typing. No need to delete first, because if you start typing when the word is selected, the entire selection will be replaced with whatever you type. If you want to replace the word with something in your clipboard, just hit PASTE after selecting the word. The paste operation will overwrite the selected text. No need to delete first, then paste.


What if you want to select the entire line? Try triple-clicking. In many cases, this will select an entire line, or even an entire paragraph.

This technique works when editing text in a word processor, editing cells in a spreadsheet, in a browser text box, and most other places where you can edit text. It even works when you're renaming a file in Windows Explorer or the Mac OS Finder.