Since bug #40156 is no longer about GUI keybindings I want to suggest adding ctrl-a by default for selecting the entire text in the current editor tab.

I think this can be closed.
it's been split off in #40156, #41199, #41217.

I'll file a separate report with the feature request for customizable keybindings.

may I suggest marking the present bug as a duplicate of the earlier #40156?

I'll copy the ones given here other there, then summarize them all.

thanks.

we say "matlab" what is meant is is matlab's default settings.

Hotkey for "Find Next" is missing (F3 on windows systems)

Ehm .... "...Should be..." ?
Who says what key bindings "should" have what functionality?

Just to put things in the proper perspective, the goal of the Octave project (the way I see it) is not to make a free (as in "free beer"), 1:1 Matlab clone out of Octave and blindly copy the GUI + look and feel.
Matlab compatibility in the sense of .m-files etc. running without (too many) changes is indeed an Octave project goal.

With that confusion out of the way, it may be (just a guess) that the GUI developers first want to implement configurable key shortcuts before adding other functionality.
The things you mention are already in the picture.

As to F9, 2 minutes ago it still worked for me ;-)

The "evaluate section" is a little more complicated.
Octave (also) recognizes '#' for comment lines and in fact, Octave's coding style prescribes '##' (double hashes) to start comment lines.
So we'd first have to think up a way to properly implement sections so that it works with the Octave coding style.

(operating system set to "any" as key bindings aren't limited to Windows)