Last week, I wrote about changing the phrase “id” to Id. using Autohotkey.
This week is a variation to that tip, using AHK to expand the letters “eg” to “e.g.,“. This is a simple concept, but one I use often. The script is:
::eg::e.g.,
Type the letters “eg” followed by a space, and the script will replace those letters with “e.g.,“.
There are many other variations for short phrase expansion, e.g., [see what I did there]:
::dr::Dr.
::jr::Jr.
::sr::Sr.
::mr::Mr.
::mrs::Mrs.
::ms/::Ms.
::inc::Inc.
Note the “/” mark after ms. This is a “trigger” for the script, so that it only works after you type “ms/”, rather than every time you type the letters ms. If you did not have to press the trigger key, and you typed the word “stems”, AHK would replace the final two letters “ms” with Ms. so that the word would become “steMs”. Not what you intended.
I use triggers like the “/” key on phrases that I type and AHK automatically changes when I don’t want it to. These unintended text replacements typically happen when I least want them to, but the minor hassle to change the script is generally worth the long term time savings.
Take notice of phrases you type often or that are difficult to type or spell and add those to your script file. Let me know how much typing time you save.