Ctrl-x/Ctrl-c/Ctrl-v is not CUA [LWN.net]

Ctrl-x/Ctrl-c/Ctrl-v is not CUA

Posted Jun 8, 2025 18:09 UTC (Sun) by jem (subscriber, #24231)
Parent article: Nyxt: the Emacs-like web browser

It's strange how the term "Common User Access" (CUA) has changed meaning from the original IBM keybindings to the current Windows keybindings, which in turn were copied from the Macintosh Command-_ keybindings. The Nyxt manual says the browser uses CUA keybindings, and the LWN article repeats that, but links to the Wikipedia page describing the *real* CUA bindings: Shift-DEL for cut, Ctrl-INS for copy, and Shift-INS for paste. IBM should have applied for a trademark for CUA.

to post comments

Ctrl-x/Ctrl-c/Ctrl-v is not CUA

Posted Jun 8, 2025 19:51 UTC (Sun) by smoogen (subscriber, #97) [Link] (2 responses)

I am reading through that list of commands, and I kind of remember them with DOS5 items but I don't ever remember ever seeing them implemented in AIX or s390 terminal programs.[I am guessing OS/2 used it?]

Having commands like CUT being "Left Shift" and "DEL" is like putting your hands at opposite sides of the keyboard seems like having your hands off the keyboard for something done a lot. I am guessing that they were trying to make sure it didn't happen accidentally or require keys not available on different terminals (like a 3270) but I can see why Microsoft would move to something more like the Mac.

Ctrl-x/Ctrl-c/Ctrl-v is not CUA

Posted Jun 8, 2025 20:56 UTC (Sun) by iabervon (subscriber, #722) [Link] (1 responses)

Before people had mice, there would have to be a lot of cursor movement key presses in between these operations, which made them less common and also increased the chance that the right hand wouldn't be on the letter keys and would be around ins and del, and maybe even that the left hand would be on modifier keys as well. The Mac-originated commands make sense because they use the left hand while the right hand is on the mouse.

Ctrl-x/Ctrl-c/Ctrl-v is not CUA

Posted Jun 9, 2025 9:43 UTC (Mon) by smoogen (subscriber, #97) [Link]

I didn't think of that as I was thinking of serial terminals and other keyboards I used without arrow keys.

Ctrl-x/Ctrl-c/Ctrl-v is not CUA

Posted Jun 9, 2025 3:37 UTC (Mon) by jzb (editor, #7867) [Link] (1 responses)

I don't know that I'd call it strange, though it is interesting. I think that Shift+Del, Ctrl+Ins, and Shift+Ins still work on Windows—but I can't swear to that, and I don't have a Windows system handy to verify it. They work in Emacs' cua-mode alongside Ctrl-c, Ctrl-v, Ctrl-x, and in Firefox, GNOME's Text Editor, LibreOffice... and Alt-F4 is still a shortcut for "close window" in GNOME, so it doesn't seem that the originals have been removed so much as other shortcuts have been added to CUA.

Also, IBM did apparently file a trademark application for Common User Access in 1991, but it was cancelled in 2003. (Or it was abandoned in 1996, there are two entries...)

Ctrl-x/Ctrl-c/Ctrl-v is not CUA

Posted Jun 9, 2025 8:40 UTC (Mon) by gerdesj (subscriber, #5446) [Link]

I've just tried shift-del and shift-ins on a Win 2022 and they do copy and paste.