# Who knew ctrl-z and ctrl-y could be so interesting. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 8, 2009, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knew-ctrl-z-and-ctrl-y-could-be-so-interesting/495804 "2009-05-08T23:37:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knew-ctrl-z-and-ctrl-y-could-be-so-interesting/495804/21 "2009-05-11T20:48:06Z")
I love wearing [this shirt](http://www.threadless.com/product/8/Ctrl_Z). ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knew-ctrl-z-and-ctrl-y-could-be-so-interesting/495804/22 "2009-05-11T20:49:40Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > Pastes whatever is in the copy/paste buffer. Highlight some text, press Control-C. Then move the cursor somewhere else, press Control-V. Instant perfect copy. Even works to different windows/apps. I see. Good for snooping. Just to be clear, it only works in conjunction with Control-C, and can’t be used by itself, right? ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knew-ctrl-z-and-ctrl-y-could-be-so-interesting/495804/23 "2009-05-11T20:58:00Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > I love wearing [this shirt](http://www.threadless.com/product/8/Ctrl_Z). Wooow, I gotta get that shirt! > [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](#): > > I see. Good for snooping. Just to be clear, it only works in conjunction with Control-C, and can’t be used by itself, right? Yes, a Control-V won’t produce anything without a previously existing Control-C. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knew-ctrl-z-and-ctrl-y-could-be-so-interesting/495804/24 "2009-05-11T21:20:45Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > ctrl-y has _two_ Very Useful Functions. > > In addition to the aforementioned redo the last undone/ctrl-z command, it acts as a repeat the last command: if the undo buffer (?) is empty, it will act as the anti-undo and redo the voodoo that you do. > > If you’ve never used it like that, go open a Word document and play around a bit. It even redoes typing. Very, very handy. I was going to mention this myself. I use Ctrl-Y for repeating commands much more often than the re-do function. Particularly useful for inserting multiple rows in a table in Word. Also good for performing multiple repititious formats throughout a document. For example, if I knew there were several words scattered in a document that I wanted to bold, underline and italicize, I’d select the first instance, hit Ctrl-D (to take me to the font menu), select all the attributes I wanted, then click OK. Then I’d select the next word I wanted and just hit Ctrl-Y, and do that with all subsequent words. And in the process of confirming that this works, I managed to delete an important confirmation number I’d typed into a document. So Ctrl-Z is definitely my friend as well. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knew-ctrl-z-and-ctrl-y-could-be-so-interesting/495804/25 "2009-05-12T00:21:56Z")
You will notice that most of the common text-based ctrl functions are down in the lower left of the keyboard. Here’s how I imagine them in my head: ctrl-Z = undo = a scribbling out gesture ctrl-X = cut = a pair of scissors ctrl-C = copy = C for Copy ctrl-V = paste = a down arrow, for pasting _down_ ctrl-A = select all = A for All ctrl-S = save = S for Save etc, etc, etc (ctrl-F for Find, ctrl-P for Print, ctrl-N for New File, ctrl-O for Open, ctrl-B for Bold, ctrl-I for Italic, ctrl-U for Underline) ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knew-ctrl-z-and-ctrl-y-could-be-so-interesting/495804/26 "2009-05-12T00:55:59Z")
> [@Asimovian](#): > > I was going to mention this myself. I use Ctrl-Y for repeating commands much more often than the re-do function. Particularly useful for inserting multiple rows in a table in Word. Also good for performing multiple repititious formats throughout a document. For example, if I knew there were several words scattered in a document that I wanted to bold, underline and italicize, I’d select the first instance, hit Ctrl-D (to take me to the font menu), select all the attributes I wanted, then click OK. Then I’d select the next word I wanted and just hit Ctrl-Y, and do that with all subsequent words. > > And in the process of confirming that this works, I managed to delete an important confirmation number I’d typed into a document. So Ctrl-Z is definitely my friend as well. 🙂 Forgive me if this is something you already know/do, but it sounds like something that might be useful (among other things, I prep and style 2-300 page Word documents for export to Quark via Editorium Quarkconverter – _lots_ of repetitious formatting actions). Get a bajillion (reprogrammable) button mouse. I use a Logitech 610. In addition to copy/paste/find/undo, I have the left and right tilt-wheels set to alt-keys. When you’re in Word and find yourself with two or three repetitive actions, set a document-specific macro based on those keys. It takes just a moment or two to get used to before it becomes intuitive which will work well off the mouse. The 610 also lets you set up customizations based on the program. First there was the mouse. Then the right click. Then the scroll wheel… multiple buttons fit the evolutionary pattern. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knew-ctrl-z-and-ctrl-y-could-be-so-interesting/495804.md?page=1)