As developers, we spend a considerable amount of time in our IDE, so it’s worth becoming an expert in using it. Simply being able to edit code doesn’t cut it — you need to become proficient.

In The Pragmatic Programmer, the authors recommend choosing one editor, and using it for all editing tasks. The reasoning behind their recommendation is simple: once you’ve memorised all keyboard shortcuts, your productivity will soar.

While you could certainly use an editor like VS Code to edit your source code, as iOS / macOS / watchOS / tvOS developers, we’re somewhat bound to use Xcode, as it includes a lot more tools than just the source code editor.

Nevertheless, it pays off to know your way around Xcode and be proficient in the core editing and navigation commands to increase your productivity.

I’ve collected a list of my favourite keybindings and mouse commands — hope you’ll find them useful as well! All keybindings listed here use Xcode’s default keybinding — with one notable exception.

⌘ = Command

⌥ = Option/Alt

⇧ = Shift

⌃ = Control

←→ ↑↓ = Arrow keys

↩ = Enter

Editing

Let’s begin with editing — this is one of the most basic activities, so every little improvement will boost your productivity!

Code Completion (⌃ + Space)

It’s hard to imagine working without code completion — I use it all of the time to explore APIs, and to save time when typing.