You know how cursor behaves in practically any text field / text area / command line, where arrow keys move cursor by single character, but holding down Ctrl while pressing arrow keys moves cursor by whole word.

What kind of wizardry would one do in order to switch this around?
As in, make the move-by-word the default behaviour, but make holding down Ctrl move cursor by just a single character? Some keyboard input binding, where ⬅ is an alias for Ctrl+⬅ ? But no idea how to make the opposite of this. Make Ctrl+⬅ an keyboard shortcut for xdotool key Left or something?
Does a setting like this already exist?

Also not sure if /c/linux is the most appropriate community for this question. Feel free to suggest more appropriate one or even cross-post to there.
Thank you

  • @markstosEnglish
    2•1 year ago

    If your concern is about the comfort using the Control key frequently, another option is to solve this at the keyboard hardware or firmware level.

    For example, I use a Corne keyboard with a control key on a convenient thumb key. I also don’t have to hold it. I can tap it and tap the next key.

    Also, by holding down another thumb key on the other hand, arrow keys are available for the home row. With this, using arrow keys and modifier keys via comfortable across all apps.

    https://mark.stosberg.com/markstos-corne-3x5-1-keyboard-layout/