How can selection of delimiter matches be disabled?

Question

I often preemptively match delimiters. As a simple example, I'll type Import[], then left arrow, then "filename".

The problem is that when I type the ] in Import[], the [ highlights in the normal selection color to signify that this pair of brackets matches. During this automatic highlighting, if I type something that involves the shift key (such as something starting with "), the ] is deleted, leaving Import[". This behavior is as if the ] was selected when the " was typed, but it was not.

To reiterate, the sequence of keys is (quickly typed!) Import[] then Left Arrow and Shift+' but the behavior is as if the sequence were Import[] and then Shift+Left Arrow and then Shift+'.

It might be my imagination, but it seems to have gotten worse in Mathematica version 9.

Can I disable or shorten the automatic highlighting of matching delimiters? It appears to be the source of the phantom shift keystroke.

This is Mathematica version 9 on Mac OS X 10.7.5.

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Wolfram support suggested unchecking "Enable dynamic highlighting" and this does not fix the problem. I recorded the problem happening twice in a row here. It happens a bit faster than it is being displayed here.

I'd settle for just shortening the duration of this highlighting so I'd have to be Superman to reproduce the problem.

Answer 1

The delimiter highlighting time is controlled by the option DelimiterFlashTime, which can be set for a cell or a notebook or the entire front end. You can lower the value (default 0.3 seconds) or disable it entirely with a value 0.

SetOptions[EvaluationNotebook[], DelimiterFlashTime -> 0]

Change to $FrontEndSession if you want to change it across all notebooks for the current session or use $FrontEnd if you want to change it for the entire front end from here onwards.