Using Shortcuts in MapleCopyright Maplesoft, a division of Waterloo Maple Inc., 2007
Introduction
Maple?s interface includes a large number of palettes, toolbars and menus which make it possible to perform a wide variety of tasks using a ?point-and-click? style. For users who prefer to use the keyboard as much as possible, keyboard shortcuts are provided for a large variety of tasks. Keyboard and mouse-driven styles can be combined, so you have the freedom to adopt as many or as few keyboard shortcuts as you desire. This Tips and Techniques describes the most commonly used keyboard shortcuts available in Maple 11.
Platform Notes
Maple 11 is available on Windows, Macintosh, and Linux/UNIX. Many, but not all, shortcut keys are the same for all platforms. This document gives Windows keystrokes, and notes the other platform keystrokes whenever they differ.
The Quick Help (opened by pressing F1 or Command+? for Macintosh) and Quick Reference Card (opened by pressing CTRL+F2 or Command+F2 for Macintosh) give platform-specific information on shortcuts as well as other helpful information.
Shortcut Keys
Evaluate and Display Inline
As you likely know, pressing Enter in Maple executes whichever line your cursor is on:
However, if you would prefer that your output appears on the same line as the input, simply press CTRL+=:
=
Switch Between Math and Text Entry Modes
Of course the most commonly used shortcut key is F5, used to switch between Text and 2-D Math input modes in Maple. This can also be accomplished by clicking on the toolbar icons:
Context-Sensitive Help
The F2 shortcut key allows you to quickly bring up Maple Help information for anything that you have typed in your document. Simply click inside the word you want to look up, and press F2 (Control+? for Macintosh). The appropriate Help page will display.
For example, clicking on or highlighting "sin" in the math below and pressing F2 will open the Help page on the sin and cos trigonometric functions.
It has the same effect as typing and pressing Enter to find help.
Automatic Command Completion
Command Completion is one of the more commonly used shortcuts. It can be used when you don't want to type in the full name of a Maple command. To use, begin typing the first few letters of the command name, and press CTRL+Space (Esc or Command+Shift+Space for Macintosh, CTRL+Shift+Space for UNIX). A list of possible completions will display; just click the one you want.
Tip: If the command name to be completed is part of a package, that package must be loaded already in order for the command name to appear in the Command Completion list.
Tip: You can use Command Completion to complete the name of a package (for e.g. LinearAlgebra) as well as command names themselves.
Automatic Symbol Completion
Like Command Completion, Symbol Completion is also done by typing CTRL+Space (Esc for Macintosh, CTRL+Shift+Space for most UNIX). It is especially useful when entering certain math symbols, like the exponential .
Simply type the first few letters of the symbol, and press CTRL+Space to bring up the list of possible symbols.
Tip: It is very important to remember to use Symbol Completion (or the palettes) when entering certain math symbols, like the exponential , the differential , or the imaginary number . Simply typing in the letter "e", "d" or "i" is not enough: you need to tell Maple explicitly that you are using the mathematical symbol:
Zoom
To increase or decrease the display size of a Maple document you can press CTRL and a number as shown below:
Zoom factor:
Shortcut keys:
50%
CTRL+0
75%
CTRL+1
100%
CTRL+2
150%
CTRL+3
200%
CTRL+4
300%
CTRL+5
400%
CTRL+6
Multi-line Commands
The Shift+Enter key combination lets you continue entering math or commands on a new line without executing that line. Execution does not occur until you press Enter, when you have finished entering your math or commands.
A good example to illustrate this is the process of defining a procedure. The procedure below, , is defined on 3 lines. Pressing Enter after typing the first line will have the undesirable effect of executing it:
In order to finish typing the 3 lines of the procedure, it is necessary to press Shift+Enter to move to each subsequent line. Once finished, press Enter and the procedure is defined.
Tip: Turning on Markers can be helpful to show you the beginning and end of your input region; select Markers from the View menu:
Tip: When you click inside a set of commands in Math mode, the dotted line indicates the input region that will execute together:
Tip: If you want more than a single command to be executed at once, you must separate them with a semi-colon or colon:
Add Rows to Piecewise Functions and Matrices
To increase the size of a piecewise function, add a new row. Place the cursor on the last row, and press CTRL+Shift+R (Command+Shift+R for Macintosh). These shortcut keys also work to add rows to matrices.
For example, to add a row to the piecewise function place the cursor somewhere in the second row and press the shortcut keys. A new row appears:
and you can fill in the values appropriately. New rows will always appear below the location of the cursor in your function or matrix.
Add Columns to Matrices
You can use the shortcut keys CTRL+Shift+C (Command+Shift+C for Macintosh) to add a column to a matrix.
Add a column to by placing the cursor where you want it to appear and press CTRL+Shift+C:
Symbols Above and Below
Sometimes you may want to insert symbols above or below another character, for example to enter a vector arrow. To insert a symbol above ("overscript"), press CTRL+Shift+["] (Command+Shift+["] for Macintosh) and then type in your symbol (or insert it from a palette).
For example, typing "x" then holding down CTRL+Shift and pressing ["] allows you to insert a symbol above the x, like.
To insert symbols below ("underscript"), press CTRL+['] (Command+['] for Macintosh).
Greek Letters
An easy way to insert Greek letter is to first press CTRL+Shift+G (Command+Shift+G for the Macintosh). The next letter typed will appear in Greek.
For example, holding down CTRL+Shift and pressing G, then typing "r" will give you , the Greek letter rho.
For more equation editor shortcut keys, please visit the 2D Math Shortcut Keys and Hints help page.
Where to get more help
Maple has many help resources where you can get more information on shortcuts.
Pressing F1 (Command+? for Macintosh) at any time will open the Quick Help window, listing the most common shortcuts in Maple. These will be specific to your platform whether it is Windows, Macintosh or another.
The Quick Reference Card is another good source of information. It is available from the Quick Help window, or can be opened by pressing CTRL+F2 (Command+F2 for the Macintosh).
Of course Maple's help menus also contain lots of information. Type to bring up a list of possible help pages. One of these is the Maple Worksheet Shortcut Keys help page.
Legal Notice: The copyright for this application is owned by Maplesoft. The application is intended to demonstrate the use of Maple to solve a particular problem. It has been made available for product evaluation purposes only and may not be used in any other context without the express permission of Maplesoft.
