Whether you are editing code, HTML, or plain text, the Code Editor is just line many other text editors or word processors. For code that is part of a project, the project’s programming language support provides syntax highlighting colorization, indentation, and so on.

## Adding text

The editor has two text input modes:

- Insertion mode As text is entered it is inserted at the current cursor position and any text to the right of the cursor is shifted along. A visual indication of inserion mode is a that the cursor is a flashing line.
- Overstrike mode As text is entered it replaces any text to the right of the cursor. A visual indication of inserion mode is that the cursor is a flashing block.

Insert and overstrike modes are common to all editors: if one editor is in insert mode, all editors are set to insert mode.. You can configure the cursor appearance in both insertion and overstrike modes using the Tools > Options dialog in the Text Editor > General pane.

###### Changing to insertion or overstrike mode

To toggle between insertion and overstrike mode, do the following:

- Press the Insert button to toggle between insert and overwrite mode.
- If overstike mode is enabled, the OVR status indicator will be enabled and the overstrike cursor will be visible.

###### Adding or inserting text

To add or insert text, do the following:

- Either click somewhere in the document or move the cursor to the desired location.
- Enter the text.
- If your cursor is between existing characters, the text is inserted between them.

To overwrite characters in an existing line, press the Insert key to put the editor in Overstrike mode.

## Deleting text

The text editor supports the following common editing keystrokes:

Key | Description
Backspace | Deletes one character to the left of the cursor
Delete | Deletes one character to the right of the cursor
Ctrl+Backspace | Deletes one word to the left of the cursor
Ctrl+Delete | Deletes one word to the right of the cursor

###### Deleting characters

To delete characters or a words in a line, do the following:

- Place the cursor immediately before the word or letter you want to delete.
- Press the Delete key as many times as needed to delete the characters or words.

—or—

- Place your cursor at the end of the letter or word you want to delete.
- Press the Backspace key as many times as needed to delete the characters or words.

Note You can double-click a word and then press Delete or Backspace to delete it.

###### Deleting lines or paragraphs

To delete text which spans more than a few characters, do the following:

- Highlight the text you want to delete by selecting it. You can select text by holding down the left mouse button and dragging over the text, or by using the Shift key with the either the arrow keys or the Home, End, Page Up, Page Down keys.
- Press Delete or Backspace.