Enclose text

In Windows, enclosing text with delimiters using a keyboard shortcut (see examples below) can be achieved using a AutoHotkey script.¹

• Ctrl “: adds double quotes to the phrase
• Ctrl ‘: adds single quotes – do –
• Ctrl ]: adds square brackets – do –
• Ctrl ): adds parentheses – do –

#Requires AutoHotkey >=v2.0

; Function to enclose selected text
EnclSelText(openChar, closeChar) {
    A_Clipboard := ""
    SendEvent "^c"
    if ClipWait(0.1) {
        cSelected := A_Clipboard
        Send openChar cSelected closeChar
    }
}

; Hotkeys with different enclosures
^)::EnclSelText("(", ")")
^]::EnclSelText("[", "]")
^"::EnclSelText('"', '"')
^'::EnclSelText("'", "'")

In MacOS, the above can be achieved using Automator; steps described below.

1. Automator → New → Quick Action
2. Drag action Run Shell Script from Library to the right pane
3. Right pane settings:
   • Set to “Automatic (text)”
   • Enable “Output replaces selected text”
   • Set /bin/bash
   • Pass input “as arguments”
   • In the box, add echo "($1)"
4. Save as Enclose parentheses. Gets saved in ~/Library/Services folder.
5. From System Settings → Keyboard shortcuts → Services → Text → Click on Enclose parentheses, and hit Ctrl0, click Done

This above would now make the action available in any application.