Configuration of CoqIDE

This page explains how to change the navigation shortcuts for Coq >= 8.15. (In prior versions, menu names were slightly different.)

The default key bindings of CoqIDE are often problematic because they conflict with the window manager. Moreover, the default bindings are not efficient at all: the most useful action requires pressing a combination of 3 keys... Fortunately, it is straightforward to update the bindings.

The alternative set of bindings

The new bindings are then as follows:

Execute until cursor	F5
Execute backward one step	F6
Execute forward one step	F7
Execute to the end	F8
Start	F9
Reset	F11
Interrupt	F12

Configuring the alternative set of bindings

(0) You need CoqIDE to have been executed at least once for the configuration file to exist.

(1) Before you make any change to these files, you MUST close all running instances of CoqIDE.

(2) You need find out the location of the configuration files coqiderc and coqide.keys:

• On Linux, in ~/.config/coq/
• On Windows, either in %HOME%\.config\coq or in C:\Program Files\Coq\config
• On Mac OS X, in ~/Library/Application\ Support/coq/

(3) Edit the file coqiderc and make the following change:

before	modifier_for_navigation = "<Control>"
after	modifier_for_navigation = ""

(4) Edit the file coqide.keys and insert the following lines at the bottom of the file:

(gtk_accel_path "<Actions>/Navigation/Run to cursor" "F5")
(gtk_accel_path "<Actions>/Navigation/Backward" "F6")
(gtk_accel_path "<Actions>/Navigation/Forward" "F7")
(gtk_accel_path "<Actions>/Navigation/Run to end" "F8")
(gtk_accel_path "<Actions>/Navigation/Start" "F9")
(gtk_accel_path "<Actions>/Navigation/Interrupt" "F12")
(gtk_accel_path "<Actions>/Navigation/Previous" "")
(gtk_accel_path "<Actions>/Navigation/Next" "")

(5) Open CoqIDE and test whether the new bindings work. They should appear in the Navigation menu.

Changing other bindings

If you use other commands frequently, you can customize their bindings. To that end, spot the line that corresponds to the desired command, then edit this line by removing the semi-column at the beginning of the line and changing the shortcut. Example:

before	;(gtk_accel_path "/Navigation/Run to cursor/" "<Control><Alt>Right")
after	(gtk_accel_path "/Navigation/Run to cursor/" "F5")

Troubleshooting

Please report to @charguer in case of issues.