Cocoa’s default key bindings are here: file:///System/Library/Frameworks/AppKit.framework/Resources/StandardKeyBinding.dict
The file ~/Library/KeyBindings/DefaultKeyBinding.dict allows you to override the defaults.
Here’s Apple’s documentation on this topic: http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Cocoa/Conceptual/BasicEventHandling/Tasks/TextDefaultsAndBindings.html
Here’s everything I’ve figured out about the file format so far:
Syntax notes: Modifiers: ^ : Ctrl $ : Shift ~ : Option (Alt) @ : Command (Apple) # : Numeric Keypad
Keycode formats:
\NNN = Octal
\UXXXX = Hex
Printing characters (including space) can be specified by
using the character itself.
Keycodes for non-printing keys:
These are equal to the ASCII codes:
Backspace: \U0008
Tab: \U0009
Escape: \U001B
Enter: \U000A (newline) or \U000D (cr)?
Other non-printing keys are represented by "unicodes" 0xF700-0xF8FF. The
complete list can be found in the NSEvent.h header file. The availability of
various keys will be system-dependent.
Up Arrow: \UF700
Down Arrow: \UF701
Left Arrow: \UF702
Right Arrow:\UF703
F1: \UF704
F2: \UF705
F3: \UF706
...
F12: \UF70F
...
F35: \UF726
Insert: \UF727
Delete: \UF728 (also ASCII code \177)
Home: \UF729
End: \UF72B
Page Up: \UF72C
Page Down: \UF72D
Print Screen: \UF72E
Scroll Lock: \UF72F
Pause: \UF730
SysReq: \UF731
Break: \UF732
Menu: \UF735
Help: \UF746
Sub-structure syntax:
Nested dictionary (for multi-key bindings like ^X^S):
{ key1 = val1; key2 = val2; ... }
Nested array (for binding to a sequence of commands (??)):
( elt1, elt2, ... )
The commands (like "pageUp:" and "moveToEndOfLine:") are Action methods
of the NSResponder class.
You can enter the code for any key by pressing Ctrl-q first. For example to set a keybinding for F1 you would hit Ctrl-q, then type F1 to insert the squiggley symbol that corresponds to the Unicode value for F1 into your keybindings file.
You can bind any standard NSResponder message and expect it to work. selectLine: and selectWord: are quite useful…