Cursor at the beginning of a line

Questions & Suggestions
#1

Is there a macro action that will sense when the cursor is at the beginning of a line? I want to set up a macro that will down arrow (from its current location at the end of the first line) until the cursor reaches the beginning of a line, and then execute another macro.

Here is one of the blocks of text I want to format:

Section 1
103:15-16
3:22-24
78:28
12:31
133:9-10
566:1-9
254:31

I have a macro that changes the font size of “Section 1”, but I need one that moves down to the line below “254:31”–and the number of items in each section varies.

David

#2

If you KNOW that you are at the end of a line (paragraph actually), then a simple Type Keystroke of [RIGHT ARROW] will work.

But rather than rely on being at the end of a paragraph, I always make sure by using [OPT] [DOWN ARROW]. You could then follow this with [RIGHT ARROW].

Note that there is a difference between “line” commands and “paragraph” commands.
“Line” commands position the cursor at the beginning or end of a line as it is currently word-wrapped.
“Paragraph” commands position the cursor at the beginning or end of the paragraph, and defined by [RETURN} or [END OF LINE] characters.

#3

Generally the only thing you can sense about the text is whether there is a selection.

You may be able to do what you want like this:

  • Repeat
    • Down Arrow
    • Command-Left Arrow
    • Command-Shift-Right Arrow
    • Maybe Pause
  • Until menu item Copy is not enabled

This will work with some apps, not with others.

#4

Hey David,

Unless the app you’re working in is very scriptable the only way would be:

  1. Manually select the entire block of text.
  • Copy it.
  • Calculate the number of paragraphs.
  • ⌘←
  • ⌃⇧E (if it works in your app) or ⌘⇧➝
  • Change Style.
  • ⌘➝
  • ⌘⇧↓ (count of paragraphs - 1)
  • Change Style.

Clunky – but faster than doing it manually.

-Chris