[visual-studio-code] Does Visual Studio Code have box select/multi-line edit?

I heard Microsoft released a new editor called Visual Studio Code and it looks pretty good. One key feature that I need is multi-line edit and I can't seem to find anything about it having it.

This question is related to visual-studio-code

The answer is


For multiple select in Visual Studio Code, hold down the Alt key and starting clicking wherever you want to edit.

Visual Studio Code supports multiple line edit.


The shortcuts I use in Visual Studio for multiline (aka box) select are Shift + Alt + up/down/left/right

To create this in Visual Studio Code you can add these keybindings to the keybindings.json file (menu FilePreferencesKeyboard shortcuts).

{ "key": "shift+alt+down", "command": "editor.action.insertCursorBelow",
                                 "when": "editorTextFocus" },
{ "key": "shift+alt+up", "command": "editor.action.insertCursorAbove",
                                 "when": "editorTextFocus" },
{ "key": "shift+alt+right", "command": "cursorRightSelect",
                                     "when": "editorTextFocus" },
{ "key": "shift+alt+left", "command": "cursorLeftSelect",
                                     "when": "editorTextFocus" }

Box Selecting

Windows & Linux: Shift + Alt + 'Mouse Left Button'

macOS: Shift + option + 'Click'

Esc to exit selection.

MacOS: Shift + Alt/Option + Command + 'arrow key'


Press Ctrl+Alt+Down or Ctrl+Alt+Up to insert cursors below or above.


On Windows it's holding down Alt while box selecting. Once you have your selection then attempt your edit.