Alias shift+backspace to backspace in Input and TextArea

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -5,6 +5,12 @@ All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](http://keepachangelog.com/)
 and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org/).
 
+## Unreleased
+
+### Changed
+
+- shift+backspace is now an alias for backspace in Input and TextArea https://github.com/Textualize/textual/pull/6611
+
 ## [8.2.8] - 2026-06-30
 
 ### Fixed

src/textual/widgets/_input.py

@@ -111,7 +111,12 @@ class Input(ScrollView):
             "Move cursor right a word and select",
             show=False,
         ),
-        Binding("backspace", "delete_left", "Delete character left", show=False),
+        Binding(
+            "backspace,shift+backspace",
+            "delete_left",
+            "Delete character left",
+            show=False,
+        ),
         Binding("ctrl+shift+a", "select_all", "Select all", show=False),
         Binding("home,ctrl+a", "home", "Go to start", show=False),
         Binding("end,ctrl+e", "end", "Go to end", show=False),
@@ -149,7 +154,7 @@ class Input(ScrollView):
     | ctrl+shift+left | Move cursor left a word and select. |
     | shift+right | Move cursor right and select. |
     | ctrl+right | Move the cursor one word to the right. |
-    | backspace | Delete the character to the left of the cursor. |
+    | backspace,shift+backspace | Delete the character to the left of the cursor. |
     | ctrl+backspace,alt+backspace | Delete right to start of word. |
     | ctrl+shift+right | Move cursor right a word and select. |
     | ctrl+shift+a | Select all text in the input. |

src/textual/widgets/_text_area.py

@@ -348,7 +348,7 @@ class TextArea(ScrollView):
         ),
         # Deletion
         Binding(
-            "backspace",
+            "backspace,shift+backspace",
             "delete_left",
             "Delete character left",
             show=False,

tests/input/test_input_key_modification_actions.py

@@ -179,3 +179,19 @@ async def test_delete_right_all_from_end() -> None:
             input.action_delete_right_all()
             assert input.cursor_position == len(input.value)
             assert input.value == TEST_INPUTS[input.id]
+
+
+async def test_shift_backspace_deletes_left() -> None:
+    """shift+backspace should behave the same as backspace."""
+
+    class SingleInputApp(App[None]):
+        def compose(self) -> ComposeResult:
+            yield Input()
+
+    async with SingleInputApp().run_test() as pilot:
+        input = pilot.app.query_one(Input)
+        await pilot.click(input)
+        await pilot.press(*"Hello")
+        await pilot.press("shift+backspace")
+        assert input.value == "Hell"
+        assert input.cursor_position == 4

tests/text_area/test_edit_via_bindings.py

@@ -113,6 +113,17 @@ async def test_delete_left_end():
         assert text_area.selection == Selection.cursor((0, 12))
 
 
+async def test_delete_left_shift_backspace_alias():
+    app = TextAreaApp()
+    async with app.run_test() as pilot:
+        text_area = app.query_one(TextArea)
+        text_area.load_text("Hello, world!")
+        text_area.move_cursor((0, 6))
+        await pilot.press("shift+backspace")
+        assert text_area.text == "Hello world!"
+        assert text_area.selection == Selection.cursor((0, 5))
+
+
 @pytest.mark.parametrize(
     "key,selection",
     [
@@ -132,14 +143,11 @@ async def test_deletion_with_non_empty_selection(key, selection):
         text_area.selection = selection
         await pilot.press(key)
         assert text_area.selection == Selection.cursor((1, 2))
-        assert (
-            text_area.text
-            == """\
+        assert text_area.text == """\
 ABCDE
 FGT
 UVWXY
 Z"""
-        )
 
 
 async def test_delete_right():