IntelliJ IDEA · Expand the selection
Selection
Windows · Linux
Ctrl+WMac
Option+UpGrows the selection one syntactic layer at a time — word, expression, statement, block. The two keymaps share nothing here, and the Windows form is the key that closes the document in most other programs, so the first press takes nerve.
- Group
- Selection
- Keys held
- 2
IntelliJ IDEA ships a different default keymap per platform, and two of them on macOS — "macOS" and "macOS System Shortcuts" — so when nothing works, look at Keymap in Settings first; whichever you pick then serves PyCharm, WebStorm, GoLand and Android Studio unchanged.
Reading the key names
- Keys joined by + are pressed together: Ctrl+Shift+P means hold Ctrl and Shift, then P.
- On a Mac, Cmd is ⌘, Option is ⌥ (labelled Alt on some keyboards), Control is ⌃ and Shift is ⇧.
- Windows Ctrl usually becomes Cmd on a Mac, but not always — this reference lists both combinations separately.
- With a Korean, Japanese or Chinese input method active, shortcuts built on letter keys may not fire. Switch to Latin input and try again.
- When a combination does nothing, another program has often claimed it as a global shortcut first.
Common questions
Q. What is the shortcut for Expand the selection in IntelliJ IDEA?
Grows the selection one syntactic layer at a time — word, expression, statement, block. The two keymaps share nothing here, and the Windows form is the key that closes the document in most other programs, so the first press takes nerve. It is Ctrl+W on Windows and Option+Up on a Mac.
Q. Is it the same on Windows and Mac?
No — Ctrl+W on Windows, Option+Up on a Mac.
Q. How many keys is that?
2 pressed together. The combination sits under Selection in IntelliJ IDEA.