Remove CtrlCmd+W keybinding to close window when no editors are opened

[graham-sportsmgmt]

This could be viewed a duplicate of this Feature Request, but I'm reopening it as a bug for two reasons:

1. Based on the last comment, I don't believe that the assigned developer completely understood the issue, and
2. I am adding more specific details that would classify it as a bug.

I frequently use Ctrl + W to close the active editor. When there are no open Windows (i.e. editor tabs) pressing Ctrl + W closes the Workspace (i.e. the entire VS Code application) which is not the behavior I want.

In the Keyboard Shortcuts menu there are default bindings for Ctrl + W to "Close Window" and Ctrl + K + F to "Close Workspace".

In Version 1.25.1 when there are no open editors, pressing Ctrl + W (wrongly) assumes that I wanted to issue a Ctrl + K + F / Close Workspace command. In this situation the desired behavior is no action as:

1. There are no open Windows, and
2. The Workspace is not a Window according to the semantics defined in Keyboard Shortcuts.

This could be fixed by either disabling Close Workspace on Ctrl + W or adding a configuration option that lets me control the behavior of Ctrl + W when no editors are open.

[bpasero]

@graham-sportsmgmt just add this to your keybindings file and it should be OK:

{
	"key": "ctrl+w",
	"command": "workbench.action.closeActiveEditor"
}

[graham-sportsmgmt]

That's what the default keybindings.json already has:

{ "key": "ctrl+w", "command": "workbench.action.closeActiveEditor" }

Could you please read my post again and let me know which parts need clarification? I'd like to make sure you understand the issue but your comment makes me believe you don't.

[bpasero]

@graham-sportsmgmt can you please just do what I said in #54492 (comment) and then see if that fixes your issue and if not we can continue the discussion?

[graham-sportsmgmt]

Yes, after adding that line ctrl+w does not close the Workspace.

This bug requests that as the default behavior without needing to edit keybindings.json.

[bpasero]

@graham-sportsmgmt but closing the Window when pressing Ctrl+W is a pretty standard behaviour I would say for applications. And for that reason we make keybindings configurable. I do not think we would change this behaviour.

[graham-sportsmgmt]

It's common for web browsers, but web browsers aren't IDE's.

[orgads]

I agree. I hit this bug too often.

Ctrl-W is common for closing a tab or a document in MWI applications, but it is very uncommon for closing the application itself, except browsers which are closed when the last tab is closed. In VS Code there is a preference for that: window.closeWhenEmpty, but if it is not set I expect the application to just ignore Ctrl-W.

For example, MS Office apps close the active document on Ctrl-W, but they don't quit.

I vote for changing the default behavior.

[kgfly]

+1 for default behavior. Current behavior is just annoying.

no one uses vscode as browser, BTW ^_^

[leidegre]

The utter insanity och having ctrl+w close VS Code by default, has to end. It isn't a browser. I know we can configure ourselves out of this situation but common, this is annoying.

[pnavarrc]

I tried setting the keybinding as suggested here without success, editing the keyboard shortcut preferences worked for me though (I just set a shortcut that I won't use)

Maybe there could be a more prominent setting to toggle this behaviour? I'm not sure about what should be the default, but making the setting more accessible would help.

[georgyfarniev]

Hello, this is super annoying I often close my vs code with all running tasks by accidentally press Ctrl+W. A heritage of electron :)