Alternative Copy, Cut, and Paste Keys

After talking to a few people about the second set of copy, cut, and paste keys, I was surprised to find that not many people knew about them.

Long ago, my first programming language was QBasic, and it did not have the well-known Ctrl-C style shortcut keys. It used a different key combination:

• Shift-Delete - Cut
• Ctrl-Insert - Copy
• Shift-Insert - Paste

These shortcuts still come in handy occasionally, especially when doing repetitive tasks where the standard shortcuts feel awkward.

The only issue I occasionally run into is when shift-selecting text. If you hit Delete before releasing Shift, you can accidentally replace the current clipboard contents.

Published: 10/01/2013 UTC

Updated: 18/06/2026 UTC

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