Keyboard Shortcuts

^{!!! Work in progress, not ready for prime time, do not link from other pages yet !!!}

Not all PICO-8 hardware has a keyboard, but when it does, there are many keyboard shortcuts that one can use.

Note that the list below primarily shows the shortcuts for a QWERTY keyboard layout on a Windows build of PICO-8. Regional and platform variations do exist, however. Where known to be different, the Linux and MacOS alternatives are listed here.

Readers with knowledge of other platforms are encouraged to fill in the blanks if they know of keys that differ from the Windows layout. If you do, please follow the existing format, thanks!

Global use

Function	Windows	Linux	MacOS
Quit	Alt+F4		⌘Cmd+Q
Reload/Run/Restart	Ctrl+R
Quick-Save	Ctrl+S
Mute/unmute	Ctrl+M
Editor toggle	Esc
Full screen toggle	Alt+Enter		⌘Cmd+F
Save a screenshot to desktop	F1 / F6 Ctrl+6
Capture cartridge label image	F2 / F7 Ctrl+7
Start recording a video	F3 / F8 Ctrl+8
Save GIF video to desktop	F4 / F9 Ctrl+9
Toggle keyboard cursor	F5 / F10 Ctrl+0
Toggle FPS display	Ctrl+1
Previous editor	Alt+←
Next editor	Alt+→

While running

Function	Windows	Linux	MacOS
Pause menu	P / Enter

See btn() for details on default controller/keyboard mappings, and keyconfig for info on changing those mappings.

Command Line

Function	Windows	Linux	MacOS
Copy (entire line)	Ctrl+C
Paste	Ctrl+V
History	↑  /  ↓
End-of-line	End Ctrl+E
Start-of-line	Home Ctrl+A
Kill to end-of-line	Ctrl+K
Kill to start-of-line	Ctrl+U
Clear screen	Ctrl+L

Text Editor

Function	Windows	Linux	MacOS
Cut	Ctrl+X
Copy	Ctrl+C
Paste	Ctrl+V
Select All	Ctrl+A
Keyboard glyph mode toggle	Ctrl+K
Insert/overwrite toggle	Ins
Start of line	Home Ctrl+W
End of line	End Ctrl+E
Start of document	Ctrl+Home Ctrl+ ↑
End of document	Ctrl+End Ctrl+ ↓
Previous word	Ctrl+←
Next word	Ctrl+→
Previous function	Alt+ ↑
Next function	Alt+ ↓
Indent selection	⇥Tab
Un-indent selection	Shift+⇥Tab
Undo	Ctrl+Z
Redo	Ctrl+Y
Find text in current tab	Ctrl+F
Find text aGain	Ctrl+G
Repeat search across tabs (Hyper search)	Ctrl+H
Go to Line number	Ctrl+I Ctrl+L
Duplicate current line	Ctrl+D
Toggle comment Block	Ctrl+B
Switch to next tab	Ctrl+⇥Tab
Switch to previous tab	Ctrl+Shift+⇥Tab

Sprite editor

All tools:

Function	Windows	Linux	MacOS
Pan tool	Space+🖰 LClick+Drag
Copy	Ctrl+C
Paste (at current sprite location)	Ctrl+V
Undo/Redo (single-step)	Ctrl+Z
Previous sprite	Q
Next sprite	W
Previous color	1
Next color	2
Toggle full view	⇥Tab
Replace color	Ctrl+🖰 LClick
Shift by one pixel	← / → /  ↑  /  ↓
Flip Horizontal	F H
Flip Vertical	V
Rotate 90° CCW	R
Zoom	< / > 🖰 Wheel

Draw tool:

Function	Windows	Linux	MacOS
Copy	Ctrl+C
Paste (at upper left)	Ctrl+V
Replace color	Ctrl+🖰 LClick
Color Picker	🖰 RClick

Stamp tool:

Function	Windows	Linux	MacOS
Stamp with color 0 transparent	LCtrl+🖰 LClick

Select tool:

Function	Windows	Linux	MacOS
Select none	Enter

Fill tool:

(n/a?)

Lower sprite sheet area:

Function	Windows	Linux	MacOS
Select multiple sprites (for flip, shift, copy, rotate)	Shift+🖰 LClick+Drag

Map editor

(TODO)

SFX editor

(TODO)

Music editor

(TODO)