Autohotkey, highlight text without mouse and original arrow keys?

Question

I remapped my arrow keys to ijkl this way,

!j::send {Left}
!k::send {Down}
!l::send {Right}
!i::send {Up}

It works great but in notepad, google docs etc I wish to highlight some text without using my mouse or the original arrows keys. Is this possible ?

In the middle of a text if I keep Shift key down while pressing !j for example the cursor doesn't move. I also tried *!j::send {Left} the cursor moves but doesn't highlight text.

My goal is to keep my hands in the same position when i use google docs, notepad etc (avoiding travel time to mouse and far away arrow keys).

Thanks!

Answer 1

!j::send {Left}

; Press Shift+Alt+j to select text by single characters to the left:
+!j::send +{Left}

; Press Ctrl+Shift+Alt+j to select text by whole words  to the left:
^+!j:: Send, +^{Left}