My favorite tilde keybindings

I’m a big fan of the ~ (tilde) key and I make heavy use of it every day. That’s why I’ve never been fond of keyboards that move its position for whatever reason.¹

I’ve discovered Control + ~ almost 20 years ago, in the days when I was using Linux and GNOME, and it was my preferred way to summon a GNOME Terminal. Many years later, I’m still using the same keybinding, and I’ve discovered a few extra uses for ~ along the way.

Note: I’m guessing these days Control + ~ is way more popular than it used to be, as VS Code is also using it for its built-in terminal.

macOS

• Control + ~ - open dropdown terminal (these days I use Ghostty)
• Option + ~ - open main (full) terminal window
  • As you can’t do this directly in macOS, I’m using an Alfred workflow for this
• Command + ~ - cycle app windows (that’s a global macOS keybinding)
  • Super useful command, that for some reason I discovered only recently. (or I had forgotten a long time ago)

I guess it’s no surprise that I’m not a VS Code user, at least not often.

Linux

• Control + ~ - open dropdown terminal
• Alt + ~ - cycle app windows (that a global keybinding in GNOME, not sure about KDE)

Obviously, we’re short one modifier key here, but that’s not a big deal in practice.

Epilogue

That’s it! A very short article on a very basic topic.

What are your favorite ~-powered keybindings?

1. The famous HHKB being the most notable example. ↩