Keyboard shortcuts
Nearly every page on GitHub has a keyboard shortcut to perform actions faster.
In this article
About keyboard shortcuts
Typing on GitHub brings up a dialog box that lists the keyboard shortcuts available for that page. You can use these keyboard shortcuts to perform actions across the site without using your mouse to navigate.
You can disable character key shortcuts, while still allowing shortcuts that use modifier keys, in your accessibility settings. For more information, see Managing accessibility settings.
The following sections list some of the available keyboard shortcuts, organized by the pages where you can use them on GitHub.
Site wide shortcuts
| Keyboard shortcut | Description |
|---|---|
| or | Focus the search bar. For more information, see About searching on GitHub. |
| Go to your notifications. For more information, see About notifications. | |
| + (Mac) or + (Windows/Linux) | Move focus from an element to its hovercard |
| When focused on a user, issue, or pull request hovercard, closes the hovercard and refocuses on the element the hovercard is in |
Repositories
| Keyboard shortcut | Description |
|---|---|
| Go to the Code tab | |
| Go to the Issues tab. For more information, see About issues. | |
| Go to the Pull requests tab. For more information, see About pull requests. | |
| Go to the Actions tab. For more information, see Writing workflows. | |
| Go to the Wiki tab. For more information, see About wikis. | |
| Go to the Discussions tab. For more information, see About discussions. | |
| Go to the repository's Security tab. For more information, see GitHub security features. |
Source code editing
| Keyboard shortcut | Description |
|---|---|
| + (Mac) or + (Windows/Linux) | Inserts Markdown formatting for bolding text |
| + (Mac) or + (Windows/Linux) | Inserts Markdown formatting for a code one-liner. The browser's default behavior is used for other file types |
| + (Mac) or + (Windows/Linux) | Inserts Markdown formatting for italicizing text |
| + (Mac) or + (Windows/Linux) | Inserts Markdown formatting for creating a link |
| ++ (Mac) or ++ (Windows/Linux) | Inserts Markdown formatting for an ordered list |
| ++ (Mac) or ++ (Windows/Linux) | Inserts Markdown formatting for an unordered list |
| ++ (Mac) or ++ (Windows/Linux) | Inserts Markdown formatting for a quote |
| Open source code file in the Edit file tab | |
| + (Mac) or + (Windows/Linux) | Start searching in file editor |
| + (Mac) or + (Windows/Linux) | Find next |
| ++ (Mac) or ++ (Windows/Linux) | Find previous |
| ++ (Mac) or ++ (Windows/Linux) | Replace |
| +++ (Mac) or ++ (Windows/Linux) | Replace all |
| + | Jump to line |
| + (Mac) or + (Windows/Linux) | Undo |
| + (Mac) or + (Windows/Linux) | Redo |
| ++ | Toggles between the Edit file and Preview changes tabs |
| + (Mac) or + (Windows/Linux) | Write a commit message |
For more keyboard shortcuts, see the CodeMirror documentation.
Source code browsing
| Keyboard shortcut | Description |
|---|---|
| Activates the file finder | |
| Jump to a line in your code | |
| Switch to a new branch or tag | |
| Expand a URL to its canonical form. For more information, see Getting permanent links to files. | |
| Show or hide comments on diffs. For more information, see Commenting on a pull request. | |
| Show or hide annotations on diffs | |
| Open blame view. For more information, see Viewing and understanding files. |
Navigating within code files
If you view a code file in a repository using the Code view and click on any line in the file, you will see a cursor. You can then navigate within the content of the file, also known as a blob (binary large object), using keyboard shortcuts.
| Keyboard shortcut | Description |
|---|---|
| + | Highlights the line that is currently selected by the cursor within the code file |
| ++ (Mac) or ++ (Windows/Linux) | If a line of code is currently selected, this shortcut opens the line menu for that line, appearing under to the left of the line |
Comments
| Keyboard shortcut | Description |
|---|---|
| + (Mac) or + (Windows/Linux) | Inserts Markdown formatting for bolding text |
| + (Mac) or + (Windows/Linux) | Inserts Markdown formatting for italicizing text |
| + (Mac) or + (Windows/Linux) | Inserts Markdown formatting for code or a command within a line |
| + (Mac) or + (Windows/Linux) | Inserts Markdown formatting for creating a link |
| + (Mac) or + (Windows/Linux) | Creates a Markdown link when applied over highlighted text |
| ++ (Mac) or ++ (Windows/Linux) | Toggles between the Write and Preview comment tabs |
| ++ (Mac) or ++ (Windows/Linux) | Pastes HTML link as plain text |
| +++ (Mac) or +++ (Windows/Linux) | Pastes HTML link as plain text |
| ++ (Mac) or ++ (Windows/Linux) | Inserts Markdown formatting for an ordered list |
| ++ (Mac) or ++ (Windows/Linux) | Inserts Markdown formatting for an unordered list |
| + (Mac) or + (Windows/Linux) | Submits a comment |
| + and then + | Opens saved replies menu and then autofills comment field with a saved reply. For more information, see About saved replies. |
| ++ (Mac) or ++ (Windows/Linux) | Inserts Markdown formatting for a quote |
| Quote the selected text in your reply. For more information, see Basic writing and formatting syntax. |
Issue and pull request lists
| Keyboard shortcut | Description |
|---|---|
| Create an issue | |
| + (Mac) or + (Windows/Linux) | Focus your cursor on the issues or pull requests search bar. For more information, see Filtering and searching issues and pull requests. |
| Filter by author | |
| Filter by or edit labels. For more information, see Filtering and searching issues and pull requests. | |
| and click | While filtering by labels, exclude labels. For more information, see Filtering and searching issues and pull requests. |
| Filter by or edit milestones. For more information, see Filtering issues and pull requests by milestone. | |
| Filter by or edit assignee. For more information, see Filtering and searching issues and pull requests. | |
| or | Open issue |
Issues and pull requests
| Keyboard shortcut | Description |
|---|---|
| Request a reviewer. For more information, see Requesting a pull request review. | |
| Set a milestone. For more information, see Associating milestones with issues and pull requests. | |
| Apply a label. For more information, see Managing labels. | |
| Set an assignee. For more information, see Assigning issues and pull requests to other GitHub users. | |
| Link an issue or pull request from the same repository. For more information, see Linking a pull request to an issue. | |
| ++ (Mac) or ++ (Windows/Linux) | Toggles between the Write and Preview tabs |
| ++ (Mac) or ++ (Windows/Linux) | Create a new sub-issue. See Adding sub-issues. |
| , + (Mac) or ++ (Windows/Linux) | Add an existing issue as sub-issue. See Adding sub-issues. |
| ++ (Mac) or ++ (Windows/Linux) | Edit parent issue. |
"Files changed" tab in pull requests
| Keyboard shortcut | Description |
|---|---|
| Open the Commits dropdown menu to filter which commits are shown in the diffs | |
| Move your cursor to the "Filter changed files" field | |
| ++ (Mac) or ++ (Windows/Linux) | Submit a review comment |
| and click (Mac) or and click (Windows/Linux) | Toggle between collapsing and expanding all outdated or resolved review comments in a pull request (for example, by holding down and clicking Show outdated or Hide outdated) |
| Click, then and click | Comment on multiple lines of a pull request by clicking a line number, holding , then clicking another line number. For more information, see Commenting on a pull request. |
Projects
Navigating a project
| Keyboard shortcut | Description |
|---|---|
| + (Mac) or + (Windows/Linux) | Focus filter field |
| Move focus to the left | |
| Move focus to the right | |
| Move focus up | |
| Move focus down |
Manipulating a project
| Keyboard shortcut | Description |
|---|---|
| Toggle edit mode for the focused cell | |
| Cancel editing for the focused cell | |
| ++(Mac) or ++(Windows/Linux) | Open row actions menu |
| + | Select item |
| + | Add cell or card below to selection |
| + | Add cell or card above to selection |
| Open selected item | |
| Archive selected items |
Moving cards on the board layout
| Keyboard shortcut | Description |
|---|---|
| or + | Start moving the selected card(s) |
| Cancel the move in progress | |
| Complete the move in progress | |
| Move a single card down | |
| + or + (Windows/Linux) | Move a single card to the bottom of the column |
| Move a single card up | |
| + (Mac) or + (Windows/Linux) | Move a single card to the top of the column |
| Move card(s) left | |
| + (Mac) or + (Windows/Linux) | Move card(s) to the leftmost column |
| Move card(s) right | |
| + (Mac) or + (Windows/Linux) | Move card(s) to the rightmost column |
Notifications
| Keyboard shortcut | Description |
|---|---|
| Mark as done | |
| + | Mark as unread |
| + | Mark as read |
| + | Unsubscribe |
Network graph
| Keyboard shortcut | Description |
|---|---|
| or | Scroll left |
| or | Scroll right |
| or | Scroll up |
| or | Scroll down |
| + (Mac) or + (Windows/Linux) | Scroll all the way left |
| + (Mac) or + (Windows/Linux) | Scroll all the way right |
| + (Mac) or + (Windows/Linux) | Scroll all the way up |
| + (Mac) or + (Windows/Linux) | Scroll all the way down |