Item 2 of the original submission: This seems to work in the meantime.

Item 3: Do we need the distinction between "paste" and "paste table"? I have attached a patch, where "paste" always uses the method for "paste table".

(file #44265)

This now is more complicated since the variable editor no uses dock widgets instead of a tab widget. There is no way by the API to get access to the tabbar in order to add a context menu or action for closing etc.

Maybe the popup menu when right clicking onto a dock widget's title bar offers a way to implement some kind of the functionality (close this, close other, etc.).

I have pushed changeset
http://hg.savannah.gnu.org/hgweb/octave/rev/9b4edcc62936
adding a tab bar with context menu for closing tabs. The shortcuts are currently taken from the editor's preferences. This is also the case in the doc browser. Therefore, I suggest to have global shortcuts for "closing tabs".

It would be nice if more of the standard keyboard shortcuts worked in the Variable Editor.  If necessary, that might mean adding a "Variable Editor" section to the Preferences->Shortcuts menu.

Item 1 : 'Ctrl+W" for close tab

Item 2 : Cut/Paste working at the display level, rather than just the editing variable level.

In a spreadsheet, I can move the cursor to a cell and press 'Ctrl+C' to copy the value.  I can then move to another cell and use 'Ctrl+V' to paste the value.  In the Variable Editor this does not work.  Instead, I have to double click on the cell that I want to edit to enter the edit mode, and then use 'Ctrl+V'.  Many, many people are used to the spreadsheet syntax for this.

Item 3 : Shortcut for "Paste Table" is unknown

I guessed, correctly, that Ctrl+V would be paste.  I don't know what the shortcut is for "Paste Table" so it always has to be done using the mouse.