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How to Change a Code Cell to a Markdown Cell in Jupyter Notebook: Keyboard Shortcuts

In this blog, we’ll explore the efficient toggling between code and markdown cells in Jupyter Notebook for data scientists or software engineers. The seamless transition from a code cell to a markdown cell, and vice versa, using keyboard shortcuts can significantly enhance your productivity and streamline your workflow.
By Saturn Cloud | | Miscellaneous | Updated:

As a data scientist or software engineer working with Jupyter Notebook, you may frequently switch between code and markdown cells. The ability to quickly change a code cell to a markdown cell, or vice versa, can save you time and improve your workflow. In this article, we will discuss the keyboard shortcut for changing a code cell to a markdown cell in Jupyter Notebook.

Table of Contents

  1. What is Jupyter Notebook?
  2. Why Change a Code Cell to a Markdown Cell?
  3. The Keyboard Shortcut for Changing a Code Cell to a Markdown Cell
  4. Conclusion

What is Jupyter Notebook?

Jupyter Notebook is an open-source web application that allows you to create and share documents that contain live code, equations, visualizations, and narrative text. It is a popular tool for data science and scientific computing, as it provides an interactive environment for exploring and analyzing data.

Jupyter Notebook uses cells to organize content. Each cell can contain either code or markdown text. Code cells allow you to write and execute code, while markdown cells allow you to write formatted text.

Why Change a Code Cell to a Markdown Cell?

There are several situations where you may want to change a code cell to a markdown cell:

  • You want to add documentation or notes to your code
  • You want to explain a concept or process using formatted text
  • You want to remove a code block that is no longer needed

The Keyboard Shortcut for Changing a Code Cell to a Markdown Cell

To change a code cell to a markdown cell in Jupyter Notebook, you can use the following keyboard shortcut:

Esc + M

Here are the steps to follow:

  1. Click on the code cell that you want to convert to a markdown cell.
  2. Press the Esc key to enter command mode.
  3. Press the M key to convert the cell to a markdown cell.

That’s it! Your code cell has now been converted to a markdown cell.

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Conclusion

In this article, we discussed the keyboard shortcut for changing a code cell to a markdown cell in Jupyter Notebook. Using this shortcut can save you time and improve your workflow, especially when working on large notebooks with many cells.

Remember that you can always change a markdown cell back to a code cell using the same process, but with a different keyboard shortcut: Esc + Y

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