⌘⇧X

Swap selected text with the clipboard.

⌘⇧X is an addition to cut, copy and paste: swap. It copies and pastes at the same time.

It's useful, for instance, when pasting selections into each others' positions--that is, swapping two blocks of text. You cut one, swap the other and paste it back.

(What?)

Cool Story

I've been editing text--copy and code--more or less all of the time since forever. I edit visually, pasting existing text around as much as possible. (I just ⌘⇧Xed “copy” and “code” up there to follow my career chronology.) Once a day or so, I find that I have something in the clipboard and something selected, and need to swap them. So here we are.

Download ⌘⇧X

Installation/Tutorial

Unzip and open Swap.workflow.
Click obvious buttons.
Copy this. →
Select this. →
Run > Services > Swap. (Then try paste!) (What?)

⌘⇧X is now set.

Caveats Emptor

⌘⇧X is slow because I made it in Automator.
⌘⇧X is an unclaimed shortcut in most apps, but may already do something (boring) in your favorite OSS REST console or whatever. I say disable the other one and make ⌘⇧X standard. Like this. ↓ $ defaults write com.[vendor].[App] NSUserKeyEquivalents -dict-add "Exact Menu Command..." nil

Happy Swapping,
Nicholas Hall