Chunk Keybinding Comparison
July 15, 2026 · View on GitHub
Raven's chunk keybindings are aligned with the Quarto VS Code extension, which provides the most coherent separation of execution (letter keys) and navigation (PageDown/PageUp). This page documents how Raven's bindings compare to the other R tools.
Design principles
Cmd/Ctrl+Alt+P/Cmd/Ctrl+Alt+N= execution pair — run the previous/next single chunk, matching Quarto and RStudio.- Shift escalates — adding Shift runs all chunks above/below rather than a single neighbor, matching Quarto.
- PageDown/PageUp = navigation — cursor movement without execution, matching Quarto and RStudio's section navigation.
- Enter variants = current chunk — run or run-and-move the chunk at the cursor.
Raven keybindings
| Mac | Windows/Linux | Action |
|---|---|---|
Cmd+Enter | Ctrl+Enter | Run Line or Selection |
Cmd+Shift+Enter | Ctrl+Shift+Enter | Source File (.R) / Knit Preview (.Rmd) / Quarto Preview (.qmd) |
Cmd+Alt+Enter | Ctrl+Alt+Enter | Run Current Chunk |
Cmd+Alt+Shift+Enter | Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Enter | Run Current Chunk and Move |
Cmd+Alt+P | Ctrl+Alt+P | Run Previous Chunk |
Cmd+Alt+N | Ctrl+Alt+N | Run Next Chunk |
Cmd+Alt+Shift+P | Ctrl+Alt+Shift+P | Run Above Chunks (all chunks above cursor) |
Cmd+Alt+Shift+N | Ctrl+Alt+Shift+N | Run Below Chunks (all chunks below cursor) |
Cmd+PageDown | Ctrl+PageDown | Go to Next Chunk |
Cmd+PageUp | Ctrl+PageUp | Go to Previous Chunk |
Cross-tool comparison
Execution shortcuts
| Shortcut (Mac) | Raven | Quarto | RStudio | REditorSupport |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Cmd+Enter | Run Line or Selection | Run Current Code | Run current line/selection | Run Selection |
Cmd+Shift+Enter | Source File (.R) / Knit Preview (.Rmd) / Quarto Preview (.qmd) | Run Current Cell | Source document (with echo) | Run Current Chunk (.Rmd) / Source with Echo (.R) |
Cmd+Alt+Enter | Run Current Chunk | — | Send line to terminal | — |
Cmd+Alt+P | Run Previous Chunk | Run Previous Cell | Re-run previous region | Run Above Chunks |
Cmd+Alt+N | Run Next Chunk | Run Next Cell | Run next Sweave/Rmd chunk | (unbound) |
Cmd+Alt+Shift+P | Run Above Chunks | Run Cells Above | Run previous Sweave/Rmd code | (unbound) |
Cmd+Alt+Shift+N | Run Below Chunks | Run Cells Below | — | (unbound) |
Cmd+Alt+C | — | — | Run current Sweave/Rmd chunk | — |
Cmd+Alt+R | — | Run All Cells | Run current document | — |
Navigation shortcuts
| Shortcut (Mac) | Raven | Quarto | RStudio | REditorSupport |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Cmd+PageDown | Go to Next Chunk | Go to Next Cell | Next section | (unbound) |
Cmd+PageUp | Go to Previous Chunk | Go to Previous Cell | Previous section | (unbound) |
REditorSupport has r.goToNextChunk and r.goToPreviousChunk commands but ships no default keybinding for them.
Key differences from each tool
vs. Quarto — Nearly identical. Raven uses Cmd+Alt+Enter for Run Current Chunk where Quarto uses Cmd+Shift+Enter; Raven adds Cmd+Alt+Shift+Enter for Run Current Chunk and Move. The P/N/Shift+P/Shift+N/PageDown/PageUp mappings match exactly.
vs. RStudio — RStudio uses Cmd+Alt+P for "re-run previous region" (which re-runs whatever you last ran, not necessarily a chunk) and Cmd+Alt+N for "run next chunk." The semantics are close but not identical. RStudio uses Cmd+Alt+C for run current chunk and Cmd+PageDown/Cmd+PageUp for section navigation (which includes chunks). RStudio has no "run below" shortcut.
vs. REditorSupport — REditorSupport only ships one chunk keybinding by default: Cmd+Alt+P = Run Above Chunks (all above, not single previous). All other chunk commands exist but are unbound. Users migrating from REditorSupport who relied on Cmd+Alt+P for "run all above" should use Cmd+Alt+Shift+P in Raven.
vs. Positron — Positron does not ship chunk-specific keybindings. Its RStudio keymap mode adds general RStudio shortcuts but not the chunk execution keys. Positron's built-in shortcuts focus on Cmd+Enter (run selection/statement) and Cmd+Shift+Enter (source file).
Migration notes
If you're coming from REditorSupport and used Cmd+Alt+P to run all chunks above the cursor, that action is now at Cmd+Alt+Shift+P. The unshifted Cmd+Alt+P runs only the single previous chunk, matching Quarto and RStudio.
If you previously used Cmd+Alt+N in Raven for chunk navigation, that key now runs the next chunk. Use Cmd+PageDown / Cmd+PageUp for navigation instead.