Right Command and right Option: using the keys on the other side
On a Mac, right Command and right Option do exactly what the left ones do. Every shortcut in macOS and in almost every app works with either side, and the Modifier Keys setting changes both sides at once. The right-hand keys still earn their place: they make some shortcuts easier on your hands, a few settings and apps can tell them apart, and because nothing uses them on their own, they make good keys to hold for something you set up yourself.
What macOS does with each side
To macOS, a shortcut is a set of modifiers plus a key. Command-C is Command-C whether your left thumb or your right thumb pressed Command, and the same goes for Option and Shift. A MacBook keyboard has Command and Option on both sides of the space bar, but Control and fn only on the left.
The setting for changing modifiers follows the same rule:
- Open System Settings and choose Keyboard in the sidebar.
- Click Keyboard Shortcuts, then choose Modifier Keys.
- Pick what the Command key, Option key, Control key, Caps Lock key or Globe key should do.
Changing the Command key there changes both Command keys. There is no separate entry for the right one.
A few places in System Settings do care which side you press. In Keyboard settings, the Dictation section has a Shortcut menu, and it offers Press Right Command Key Twice alongside Press Left Command Key Twice and Press Either Command Key Twice. Siri’s keyboard shortcut offers the same three choices. If you dictate often, a double tap of right Command is a comfortable way to start it, and it rarely gets in the way of ordinary shortcuts, because a double tap of right Command on its own is hard to do by accident.
Split the shortcut between your hands
Touch typists press Shift with the hand that is not typing the letter: right Shift for a capital A, left Shift for a capital L. The same habit works for Command and Option, and it helps most with the chords that cramp one hand:
- Shift-Command-4 and Shift-Command-5 (⇧⌘4, ⇧⌘5). Right thumb on right Command, left little finger on Shift, left middle finger on the number. No stretch.
- Shift-Command-Z (⇧⌘Z), Redo in most apps. Pressed with the left hand alone, three fingers crowd into one corner.
- Option-Command-Esc (⌥⌘⎋), Force Quit. Right thumb on right Command, right finger on right Option, left hand on Escape.
Nobody needs to retrain for this. Try it with the two or three shortcuts that feel awkward, and keep doing what already feels fine for the rest.
Apps that tell left from right
Terminal apps are where the difference matters most. In a shell, Option can act as the Meta key, which gives you Option-B and Option-F to jump back and forward a word. But Option is also how you type characters: on a British layout, # is Option-3, and many European layouts need Option for characters such as @ and square brackets. Turn Option into Meta on both sides and those characters stop working.
Some terminals let you split the job:
| App | Where | What you can set |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal | Settings > Profiles > Keyboard | Use Option as Meta key, for both Option keys |
| iTerm2 | Settings > Profiles > Keys | Left Option key and Right Option key, each Normal, Meta or Esc+ |
| kitty | macos_option_as_alt in kitty.conf |
left, right or both |
| Ghostty | macos-option-as-alt in its config |
left, right, or true for both |
The usual setup is left Option as Meta (Esc+ in iTerm2) and right Option left alone, so word jumps work under your left hand and you still type # or @ with the right. Terminal shortcuts on a Mac covers what Meta gives you once it is on.
Remap only the right-hand key
macOS has no setting for remapping one side, but there are two ways to do it.
hidutil, which is built into macOS, can change any single key until you restart. A MacBook has no right Control key, for example, and this command makes right Option act as one:
hidutil property --set '{"UserKeyMapping":[{"HIDKeyboardModifierMappingSrc":0x7000000E6,"HIDKeyboardModifierMappingDst":0x7000000E4}]}'
0x7000000E6 is right Option, 0x7000000E4 is right Control, and 0x7000000E7 is right Command. To undo it, run the same command with an empty list: hidutil property --set '{"UserKeyMapping":[]}'. A restart also clears it.
Karabiner-Elements, free and open source, does the same thing with a settings window and keeps it after a restart. Its Simple Modifications tab lets you pick right_command or right_option and choose what it sends instead.
Before you remap right Option, check whether you type any characters with it. If you do, remap right Command instead, which types no characters.
Right Command as a key you hold
Apart from those optional Dictation and Siri shortcuts, nothing in macOS uses right Command on its own, so holding it makes a clean trigger for things you set up yourself.
Typebar uses it that way. Its layers go on a key you choose, like right Command or a Hyper key. Hold the key and the on-screen board shows the keys on that layer: keys that open an app, type a snippet, send a shortcut, or show a symbol with a caption. Each layer has its own hold time, works in every app or just one, and is saved to a file you can share. The Apps layer, added with one click, puts your running and Dock apps on their first letters, and pressing one switches to it. Keyboard layers on a Mac walks through building one.
If you want a held key with a whole keyboard of shortcuts behind it rather than a layer, the other route is a Hyper key, which presses Control, Option, Shift and Command at once. Hyper key shortcuts has ideas for what to put on it.
Showing which side you pressed in a recording
Most of the time viewers do not need to know which Command key you pressed. When they do, for example when you are showing the Dictation shortcut or a terminal set up with left Option as Meta, a keyboard overlay saves you from saying it out loud.
Typebar lights the matching key for every key you press, so right Command lights the right-hand Command key on the board and left Command lights the left one. Hold Option for a moment and the keys relabel with the characters each one types, which is a quick way to show where # or @ lives on your layout. Type special characters on a Mac with the Option key goes further into those.
Typebar is $9 once for up to 5 Macs, and free for 24 hours with everything on.
Questions
Can System Settings make right Command do something different from left Command?
No. Modifier Keys changes both sides together. Only a few built-in settings tell them apart, such as the Dictation and Siri shortcuts. To remap one side, use hidutil or Karabiner-Elements.
Do both Option keys type the same characters?
In Apple’s standard layouts, yes. Option-3 gives the same character whichever Option key you hold.
Can I get a right Control key on a MacBook?
Yes, by remapping right Option or right Command to Control with hidutil or Karabiner-Elements. Pick the one you use least.