Select N Lines

Select N Lines is a lightweight, high-performance VS Code extension that enables fast, stackable line and character selection, plus quick text-object navigation — no Vim-mode overhead, no mode switching, just intuitive keyboard commands.

Features

Line selection
- Up: Ctrl+Alt+1–9
- Down: Alt+Shift+1–9
Character selection
- Left: Alt+1–9
- Right: Ctrl+Shift+1–9
Select inside delimiters: braces {}, parentheses (), brackets [], angle brackets < >, double and single quotes
Go to matching delimiter (e.g., jump from { to matching }): Ctrl+Alt+F
Jump inside nearest
- Double quotes: Alt+V
- Parentheses: Alt+G
Select whole line: Alt+W
Select to start/end of line: Alt+A / Alt+E
Delete current line: Alt+X
Paragraph operations
- Yank (copy) paragraph: Alt+Y
- Delete paragraph: Alt+D

All selections extend logically from your cursor or previous anchor. Stack commands by repeating keys to grow the selection (for example, pressing Ctrl+Alt+5 twice selects 10 lines upward).

Default Keybindings

Action	Keys
Select N lines up (1–9)	`Ctrl+Alt+1` … `Ctrl+Alt+9`
Select N lines down (1–9)	`Alt+Shift+1` … `Alt+Shift+9`
Select N chars left (1–9)	`Alt+1` … `Alt+9`
Select N chars right (1–9)	`Ctrl+Shift+1` … `Ctrl+Shift+9`
Select inside braces `{ }`	`Alt+B`
Select inside double quotes `"…"`	`Alt+Q`
Select inside single quotes `'…'`	`Alt+N`
Select inside parentheses `( )`	`Alt+``
Select inside brackets `[ ]`	`Alt+Z`
Select inside angle `< >`	`Alt+J`
Select inside double angle `<< >>`	`Alt+K`
Go to matching delimiter	`Ctrl+Alt+F`
Jump inside double quotes	`Alt+V`
Jump inside parentheses	`Alt+G`
Select to start of line	`Alt+A`
Select to end of line	`Alt+E`
Select whole line	`Alt+W`
Delete current line	`Alt+X`
Yank (copy) paragraph	`Alt+Y`
Delete paragraph	`Alt+D`

Changing Keybindings

Open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P).
Select Preferences: Open Keyboard Shortcuts (JSON).
Add or modify keybindings. Example for a custom mapping:

{
  "key": "ctrl+alt+3",
  "command": "selectNLines.stackingLine",
  "args": { "amount": 3, "direction": "up" },
  "when": "editorTextFocus"
},
{
  "key": "alt+q",
  "command": "selectNLines.selectInsideDoubleQuotes",
  "when": "editorTextFocus"
}

Available commands (full list in package.json):

selectNLines.stackingLine
selectNLines.stackingChar
selectNLines.selectInsideBraces
selectNLines.selectInsideDoubleQuotes
selectNLines.selectInsideSingleQuotes
selectNLines.selectInsideParens
selectNLines.selectInsideBrackets
selectNLines.selectInsideAngle
selectNLines.selectInsideDoubleAngle
selectNLines.gotoMatchingDelimiter
selectNLines.jumpInsideDoubleQuotes
selectNLines.jumpInsideParens
selectNLines.selectToStartOfLine
selectNLines.selectToEndOfLine
selectNLines.selectWholeLine
selectNLines.deleteLine
selectNLines.yankParagraph
selectNLines.deleteParagraph

Purpose

Equip your workflow with rapid, customizable text-object and selection commands so you can navigate and select code more efficiently than ever, without leaving the keyboard.

Installation

Manual install

Download the .vsix file.
In VS Code, open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P) and run Install from VSIX.
Select the file and reload VS Code if prompted.

From source

npm install
npm run compile
vsce package
code --install-extension select-n-lines-<version>.vsix

Requirements

VS Code 1.100.0 or later
Node.js & npm (for building)

License

MIT — use and modify freely.

Author

Aleksander Todorov

Created with the help of AI. For additional information or support, contact aleks.business.cs@abv.bg.

select-n-lines

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