Basic Notebook Editing

Jupyter notebooks have two modes for interaction, Command Mode and Edit Mode. To build your own notebook, you will need to create new cells in Command Mode and edit their contents in Edit Mode.

Command Mode vs. Edit Mode

Command Mode is used to select cells and view or edit the notebook as a whole by adding, deleting, running cells, and changing their properties. In Edit Mode, on the other hand, you can change what a certain cell contains.

Switch from Command Mode to Edit Mode by clicking on a cell (you may need to click multiple times), or by pressing Esc.

Switch from Edit Mode to Command Mode by pressing Return or by running a cell.

Creating Cells

To create a new cell, you can either:

• Select Insert -> Insert Cell Above or Insert -> Insert Cell Below in the Menu Bar
• Press the Insert Cell Below Button in the Tool Bar
• Press a or b in Command Mode (inserts cell above or below)

Also, if you run the last cell in a Notebook, a new cell is typically created below.

Deleting Cells

To delete cells, first select them and you can either:

• select Edit -> Delete Cells in the Menu Bar
• press dd in Command Mode

Cell Types