VS Code Select All Instances & Multi-Cursor Guide (2026)

You need to rename a variable that appears forty times across a file, add a semicolon to the end of thirty lines, or prepend a property to every key in a JSON object. Doing it one line at a time would take minutes. With VS Code multiple cursors, it takes seconds. This guide covers every method for vscode multiline edit — from the simple Alt+Click cursor drop to vscode select all instances and box selection — with complete shortcuts for Windows, Mac, and Linux. It also covers the one step every other guide skips: how to verify that your bulk edits landed correctly, which is where a diff tool becomes essential.

Why Multi-Cursor Editing Is a VS Code Superpower

Visual studio multiple cursors is not a gimmick. It is one of the highest leverage features in the editor — alongside code folding and format shortcuts, it forms the productivity trifecta every VS Code user should master. A single multi-cursor operation can replace dozens of manual edits in the time it takes to press three keys. Yet surveys consistently show most developers only know one or two of the available methods — usually the one they stumbled on by accident.

The feature works by placing multiple independent insertion points (cursors) anywhere in your file. Every cursor behaves identically: text you type appears at all of them, backspace deletes from all of them, and arrow keys move all of them in sync. When combined with VS Code's selection system, this unlocks six distinct editing patterns — the core of visual studio multiple cursors — that cover almost every bulk-edit scenario you will encounter.

Here is when each pattern wins:

• Scattered positions — Alt+Click to drop cursors anywhere
• Consecutive lines — Ctrl+Alt+↑↓ (Win) / Shift+Alt+↑↓ (Linux) / Cmd+Option+↑↓ (Mac) to select multiple lines vscode and stack cursors vertically
• Same word, selective — Ctrl+D to pick occurrences one by one
• Same word, all at once — Ctrl+Shift+L to grab every match
• Column/tabular data — Box select to edit a rectangular region
• Ragged line endings — Shift+Alt+I to land cursors at line ends

The sections below explain each method in detail, building on the official VS Code editing documentation. All shortcuts are listed for all three platforms in the complete reference table.

Method 1: Add Cursors with Alt + Click (Option + Click on Mac)

The most intuitive way to start vscode multiline cursor editing is to hold Alt (Windows/Linux) or Option (Mac) and click wherever you want a cursor. Each click adds an independent cursor at that exact position without disturbing any previous ones.

How to use it:

1. Hold Alt / Option.
2. Click once at the first position you want to edit.
3. Keep holding and click at every additional position.
4. Release the key — all cursors remain active.
5. Start typing. Text appears at every cursor simultaneously.

Best for: Edits at arbitrary, non-consecutive positions — for example, changing three different variable names on lines 12, 47, and 83 of the same file. If you are wondering how to use cursor in vscode for quick one-off edits, Alt+Click is the simplest starting point.

Pro tip: After placing cursors with Alt+Click you can still extend each selection individually by holding Shift and clicking to the right of any cursor. All other cursors stay put while you expand just that one selection.

Method 2: Add Cursors Above or Below (Ctrl+Alt+↑↓ / Shift+Alt+↑↓)

When you need to select multiple lines in VS Code that are all adjacent — a block of consecutive lines where every line needs the same edit at the same column — the keyboard shortcut to add cursors above or below is the fastest approach. Each key press adds one cursor directly above or below the current one at the same horizontal position.

How to use it:

1. Place your cursor on the first line you want to edit (at the column you want to edit).
2. Press Ctrl+Alt+↓ (Windows), Shift+Alt+↓ (Linux), or Cmd+Option+↓ (Mac) once for each additional line downward.
3. Or press Ctrl+Alt+↑ (Windows) / Shift+Alt+↑ (Linux) / Cmd+Option+↑ (Mac) to add cursors upward.
4. Type your edit — it applies at the same column on every selected line.

Best for: Adding the same character at a fixed column across a block of lines — for example, inserting a comma at the end of each line in a multi-line array literal, or prepending // to comment out several adjacent lines (though VS Code's built-in toggle-comment is faster for that).

This method is also useful for how to type on multiple lines in VS Code when the lines are vertically aligned — think YAML keys, CSS properties, or SQL column lists. It is the fastest way to select multiple lines vscode when you need cursors on consecutive rows at the same column.

Method 3: Select Next Occurrence (Ctrl+D / Cmd+D)

Vscode select next occurrence is arguably the most commonly used multi-cursor workflow for renaming identifiers. Place your cursor inside a word (or select it), then press Ctrl+D on Windows/Linux or Cmd+D on Mac. VS Code selects the current word and highlights the next identical occurrence. Press again to add the next one, and so on until you have selected all the instances you want to change.

How to use it:

1. Place your cursor anywhere inside the word you want to rename (or select it manually).
2. Press Ctrl+D — VS Code selects the word and finds the next match.
3. Press Ctrl+D again to include the next occurrence.
4. If you want to skip a particular occurrence, press Ctrl+K then Ctrl+D to skip it and jump to the next one.
5. Type your replacement — all selected occurrences update at once.

Best for: Selective replacement where you want to change most occurrences of a term but skip one or two specific instances. For example, renaming a parameter in a function without touching a comment that happens to use the same word.

This pairs naturally with VS Code's rename symbol (F2) for refactoring across files, but Ctrl+D is faster when you are making a quick in-file substitution and do not need language-server awareness.

Method 4: Select All Occurrences (Ctrl+Shift+L)

Vscode select all matches with Ctrl+Shift+L (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+Shift+L (Mac) is the nuclear option: it selects every single occurrence of the highlighted text in the entire file in one keystroke, placing a cursor at each one. This is the same operation as pressing Ctrl+D repeatedly until every match is selected — except it does it instantly, no matter how many matches there are.

How to use it:

1. Select the text you want to replace (double-click a word, or select manually).
2. Press Ctrl+Shift+L — all occurrences throughout the file are selected.
3. Type to replace all at once, or use Home / End to move every cursor to the start or end of its selection.
4. Press Esc to collapse all cursors back to one when done.

VS Code matches case-sensitively and respects whole-word boundaries based on what you selected. If you selected only part of a word, it will match that substring everywhere it appears, including inside other words. This is the definitive way to visual studio change multiple lines at once when every occurrence must change.

Ctrl+D vs Ctrl+Shift+L — when to use which:

Method 5: Box / Column / Vertical Selection

Vscode vertical select — also called box selection or column selection — lets you select a rectangular region of text rather than whole lines. This is invaluable when working with tabular data, YAML, JSON key-value pairs, CSV files, or any situation where you want to edit a fixed column across multiple rows.

Mouse method (fastest):

1. Hold Shift+Alt (Windows/Linux) or Shift+Option (Mac).
2. Click and drag to select the rectangular region.
3. Release — a cursor spans every row within the selected column.

Keyboard-only method:

1. Place cursor at the top-left corner of the region you want to select.
2. Hold Ctrl+Shift+Alt (Windows) or Cmd+Shift+Option (Mac) and press arrow keys to expand the selection. Linux has no default keyboard shortcut for this — use the mouse method or toggle Column Selection Mode via the Command Palette.
3. Each arrow press extends the rectangular selection by one character or one line.

Column Selection Mode toggle: Open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P) and search for Toggle Column Selection Mode. While active, all selections become column selections automatically — useful when you need to do many column edits in a row. Combined with other methods, this is another answer to how to select multiple lines in VS Code efficiently.

Best for:

• Deleting a column of numbers from CSV data
• Inserting a prefix on every line at a fixed indent level
• Extracting or replacing values from aligned key-value config files
• Reformatting SQL column lists or Python import blocks

Method 6: Add Cursors at End of Selected Lines (Shift+Alt+I)

How to edit multiple lines in VS Code when the lines have different lengths? Box selection will not help because the end-of-line positions are not in the same column. This is exactly what Shift+Alt+I (Windows/Linux) or Shift+Option+I (Mac) solves: select a range of lines first, then press this shortcut to place a cursor at the very end of each selected line — regardless of line length.

How to use it:

1. Click and drag (or use Shift+↓) to select several lines of code.
2. Press Shift+Alt+I — a cursor appears at the end of each selected line.
3. Type to append text to every line, or press Home to jump all cursors to the beginning of their lines.

Classic use case: You have a block of CSS properties or Python list items where each line ends at a different column. You want to append a semicolon or a comma to all of them. Select the block, press Shift+Alt+I, type the character, done. This is dramatically faster than how to select multiple lines in VS Code and editing them individually. On macOS, this is one of the key vscode multiple cursors mac techniques for ragged-line editing.

Essential Multi-Cursor Tips and Tricks

Undo the Last Added Cursor

Added one cursor too many? Press Ctrl+U (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+U (Mac) to remove the most recently added cursor without exiting multi-cursor mode. Press it multiple times to peel back cursors one by one.

Exit Multi-Cursor Mode

Press Escape at any time to collapse all cursors back to a single cursor. If you have active selections, pressing Escape once collapses the selections; pressing it a second time exits multi-cursor mode entirely.

Combine with Find and Replace

Open Find (Ctrl+F), type your search term, then press Alt+Enter to select all matches in the file and drop a cursor at each one simultaneously. This is effectively a keyboard-only equivalent of vscode select all matches and works well when you need to find a pattern first before editing.

Multi-Cursor + Clipboard

When you have multiple cursors with selections, Ctrl+C copies all selected text (one per cursor), and Ctrl+V pastes each clipboard fragment back to its respective cursor position. This lets you rearrange blocks of text in parallel — copy N values, move all cursors to destination positions, paste.

Use Ctrl+D with Case-Sensitive Matching

By default, Ctrl+D matches the exact case of your selection. If you want case-insensitive matching, open Find (Ctrl+F), disable the "Match Case" option (Alt+C toggles it), then press Alt+Enter to select all matches.

Multi-Cursor Works with IntelliSense

IntelliSense autocomplete and snippet expansion work with multiple cursors. If you trigger a snippet and have multiple cursors active, each cursor gets its own snippet instance — tab stops advance at all cursors in sync. This is powerful for generating repetitive code structures. It is one of many reasons visual studio multi cursor support goes far beyond simple find-and-replace.

Adjust Cursor Width for Visibility

If you find it hard to see all your cursors, add "editor.cursorWidth": 3 to your settings.json. A wider cursor is much easier to track when you have ten or twenty active at once. This small tweak greatly improves the experience when learning how to type on multiple lines in VS Code for the first time.

Windows vs Mac vs Linux: Complete Shortcut Reference

Here is the definitive cheat sheet for visual studio multi cursor and related shortcuts across all three platforms. Bookmark this section.

Mac-specific note: If Cmd+Option+↑↓ conflicts with macOS Mission Control shortcuts, go to System Preferences → Keyboard → Shortcuts → Mission Control and disable the spaces-switching bindings (Move left/right a space). Alternatively, reassign the VS Code shortcut in File → Preferences → Keyboard Shortcuts. For a complete list of default and customizable bindings, see the official VS Code keybindings reference.

Linux note: VS Code uses Shift+Alt+↑↓ on Linux (not Ctrl+Alt+↑↓) specifically to avoid the common window manager conflict. If Shift+Alt+↑↓ is still captured, reassign the VS Code shortcut in your keyboard settings. The same reassignment workflow applies to vscode multi cursor mac bindings that conflict with Mission Control.

Verifying Bulk Edits: The Step Everyone Skips

Here is the honest reality of vscode multiline edit at scale: whether you edit multiple lines vscode with Ctrl+D or box select, the more occurrences you change at once, the higher the chance that one of them was an unintended match. A thirty-cursor rename operation can easily catch a comment, a string literal, or a variable in a different scope that happened to share the same name. And because all the edits happen simultaneously, there is no per-edit confirmation — you accept or undo the entire batch.

Most guides stop at "press Escape when done." None of them talk about what happens next: how do you actually find every difference and confirm that every change is correct before committing?

Step 1: Use VS Code's Built-in Source Control Diff

If your file is tracked by Git, open the Source Control panel (Ctrl+Shift+G), click the file, and VS Code shows you a side-by-side diff of the working copy versus the last committed version. Every change is highlighted. Scroll through it to verify each modified line looks right. This is fast for small changes but can be noisy for large-scale multi-cursor operations.

Step 2: Save a Snapshot Before Editing

Before running a large multi-cursor operation, duplicate the file or copy its contents to a temporary buffer. After the edit, compare the original against the result. This is especially useful when working outside a Git repository — for example, editing a config file, a markdown document, or a generated file you cannot easily roll back.

Step 3: Run a Proper Diff on the Result

The most reliable verification method is a true diff: paste the original text into one panel and the edited text into another, then see a line-by-line comparison. VS Code's built-in diff viewer handles this (see our guide on how to compare two files in VS Code), but for quick ad-hoc comparisons — especially when you want character-level highlighting, a similarity percentage, or AI-generated change summaries — a dedicated tool like Diff Checker gives you more context in less time.

For JSON files specifically, multi-cursor edits to key names or values can silently break JSON validity. Running the before and after through a JSON-aware diff tool catches structural issues that a line-diff might miss. Our JSON comparison guide covers this in detail.

What to Look For in a Diff Review

• Unintended matches — did the replacement touch a comment or string that used the same identifier?
• Partial replacements — did you accidentally skip an occurrence with Ctrl+K Ctrl+D and forget to go back?
• Scope leakage — did a variable rename propagate into a different function or module that shares the name?
• Formatting side effects — did column selection accidentally delete leading whitespace or shift indentation?
• Count mismatch — does the number of changed lines match the number of cursors you had active?

Tool Comparison: VS Code Multi-Cursor vs Diff Checker

These two tools solve different problems but pair extremely well together. Here is how to think about the division of labor:

The workflow that most professional developers land on is: use visual studio multiple cursors to make the bulk edits fast, then use Diff Checker to verify the result is exactly what you intended before committing. The diff step adds thirty seconds and eliminates the risk of shipping an unintended replacement that slipped past code review.

This pattern is especially important when editing configuration files, environment variable definitions, or any file where a missed or extra change could cause a runtime error. Knowing how to edit multiple lines in VS Code is only half the battle — being able to spot the difference in the result is what separates reliable refactoring from silent regressions. Our article on the Unix diff command explains the underlying diff algorithm if you want to understand what Diff Checker is doing under the hood.

For teams working with structured data formats, combining multi-cursor edits with format-aware diffing — such as our XML compare tool or JSON normalization — catches the class of errors that plain text diffing misses entirely.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I select all instances of a word in VS Code?

Place your cursor on the word (or select it), then press Ctrl+Shift+L on Windows/Linux or Cmd+Shift+L on Mac. This is the vscode select all instances shortcut — it selects every occurrence of that exact text in the file simultaneously, placing a cursor at each one so you can type a replacement all at once.

What is the shortcut for multiple cursors on Mac?

The primary vscode multiple cursors mac shortcuts are: Option+Click to add a cursor at any position, Cmd+Option+↑↓ to add cursors above or below, Cmd+D for the next occurrence, and Cmd+Shift+L to select all occurrences. For box selection, hold Shift+Option and drag. This also applies to vscode multi cursor mac workflows.

How do I edit multiple lines in VS Code?

The quickest approach for edit multiple lines vscode depends on the lines: if they are consecutive, use Ctrl+Alt+↑↓ (Windows) / Shift+Alt+↑↓ (Linux) / Cmd+Option+↑↓ (Mac) to stack cursors. If they end at different columns and you want to append text, select the block and press Shift+Alt+I to land cursors at each line end. For non-adjacent lines, use Alt+Click to place cursors manually.

How do I select a column in VS Code?

Hold Shift+Alt (Windows/Linux) or Shift+Option (Mac) and drag the mouse to select a rectangular column. You can also use Ctrl+Shift+Alt+Arrow for keyboard-only vscode vertical select. Toggle Column Selection Mode via the Command Palette for persistent column-select behavior.

What is the difference between Ctrl+D and Ctrl+Shift+L?

Ctrl+D adds one match at a time, letting you skip individual occurrences with Ctrl+K Ctrl+D. Ctrl+Shift+L selects every occurrence in the file instantly. Use Ctrl+D for selective replacement; use Ctrl+Shift+L when you want visual studio change multiple lines at once for every instance without exception.

How do I undo a multi-cursor action in VS Code?

Press Ctrl+U (Mac: Cmd+U) to remove the last added cursor. Press Escape to exit multi-cursor mode entirely. If you have already typed and want to undo the bulk edit, press Ctrl+Z — VS Code undoes all cursor edits as a single operation.

How do I use the cursor in VS Code for bulk renaming?

For how to use cursor in vscode to rename: place the cursor on the identifier, press Ctrl+D repeatedly to select each occurrence (skip any you want to preserve with Ctrl+K Ctrl+D), then type the new name. For cross-file renaming, use F2 (Rename Symbol) instead — it uses the language server to find all references, not just text matches.