When I use Cmd+K to go to the next occurrence of the selected word, Eclipse leaves behind these red "cursors" right before the copies of the word that I navigate through. If I then edit the last occurrence that I find, Eclipse "helpfully" edits all the occurrences that I've navigated through in the same way. This leaves corruption in parts of my file that I'm not currently looking at, which is really infuriating.
I want to disable this "feature", but I haven't got a clue what to call it, so I don't know how to find the setting that turns it off. Searching the Eclipse preferences for "occurrence" only gives various versions of "Mark Occurrences" for each editor plugin, which doesn't disable this behavior when unchecked.
EDIT: Here's a video displaying the behavior I'm talking about: https://youtu.be/8xeKRLyGSLg
This isn't really given by PyDev, it's a feature added by LiClipse (http://www.liclipse.com/multi_edition_video.html).
After the link is done with Ctrl+K, you can press ESC to remove those links if you don't want the multi-edition to happen (so that when you edit one occurrence you don't edit the others).
I must say this is the first request to have that turned off... I'm pretty certain as I just took a look and there's no setting to do that -- so, unfortunately, until the next release, you have to either live with it, remembering to press ESC if you don't want the multi edition to happen or use a plain Eclipse install with PyDev, but you'd also be without other LiClipse benefits, such as textmate bundles, vertical indent guides, theming integration, etc.
Still, note that ideally, I'd say you should get used to it as it can be a real time-saver -- although I'll implement the setting to turn it off for the next release anyways, as it's something that should really be there ;)
There are a zillion questions on SO about keyboard shortcuts in Eclipse, but there's I've always wondered if there is an underlying logic to the decisions of which shortcuts would be ctrl+alt+[some letter], and which would be just ctrl+[some letter] etc. Obviously there is a need to use a variety of combinations because there are only so many keys on the keyboard, but why, for example, is "add import" ctrl+shift+m, while "extract method" is alt+shift+m, instead of the other way around?
I think if there is some underlying logic to these decisions, it will make it easier to remember more shortcuts without having to scan through the huge right-click menus to find them, and I won't accidentally use the wrong one as often.
I have no definitive answer, but some elements could include:
Ctrl+...: those are mainly legacy shortcuts (for copy-paste for instance, or "new documents", or "save", ...).
Alt+...: reserved for certain OS for menu shortcuts.
Ctrl+Shift+...: shortcuts for (mainly not always) direct actions (on the text or source code), like "add import")
Alt+Shift+...: shortcuts for (mainly, not always) indirect actions (a menu or windows is opened first, the user enter some other informations, and then the action is performed), like "extract method".
Plus, Alt+Shift+... is sometimes followed by a letter, like Alt+Shift+Q (Show view), B (for showing breakpoints). Again: indirect action.
as most of us surely do every now and then, I try to improve my workflow. As Eclipse is my main IDE, I wondered if it may be possible to use it without mouse. I browsed the available shortcuts and tried to use them instead of my mouse. I found interesting features like Ctrl+3 which opens something like the Apple spotlight.
I know there are a lot of questions concerning favorite shortcuts etc. but I'd like to know if it works because at the moment it feels a bit squishy 100% without mouse.
So is anyone out there using Eclipse like that? And are there some hints to ease the change?
Yes, it is possible. For a start, check out 10 Eclipse navigation shortcuts every java programmer should know. When you use these 10 shortcuts and some of the shortcuts of the comments, you will already see a big performance boost.
The "open type" and "open resource" dialogs are CamelCase-sensitive, so when typing "NPE" in the open type dialog, I get two matching items NoPermissionException and NullPointerException. So using good names with consistent spelling is a must.
Ctrl+F11 starts a program, F11 debugs it. Note howewer to check if in Window-Preferences-Run/Debug-Launching the value of "Launch Operation" is set to your needs.
You may want to customize the search dialog (Ctrl+h) to only show the file search (default is to context sensitively present you with different search tabs).
Ctrl+n allows you to create something new (opens a wizard with an initial filter text to filter the possible next pages).
I'm a blind programmer who uses eclipse. While there are plenty of shortcuts I find people often overlook using menus from the keyboard. If there's a function you use a lot that doesn't appear to be supported with keyboard shortcuts you can either create a shortcut to it in prefferences or use keyboard shortcuts such as alt+f to access the file menu and a one letter combination that allows you to access the item. For example hit alt+f then a to access the save as dialog. The underlined letter is the one you want to hit once in the menu.
There are a couple of things you can do to improve your keyboard:mouse usage ratio with Eclipse.
First off, if you push Ctrl-Shift-L, it shows you a master list of all the shortcuts you can use. If you know what you want to do, this is usually a quicker way of doing it without having to dig through menus, and as a bonus, you will learn some shortcuts you didn't know before.
The other thing you can try is a plugin called MouseFeed which looks promising. It tells you the shortcut for any menu item you use and if there isn't one, reminds you to create one. It essentially acts as training wheels until you become as close to 100% keyboard use as possible. I'm not sure how well it works in 3.4, but you can give it a shot.
Hope that helps.
Here you get an Eclipse Shortcut Overview PDF file of all key bindings. This file you can print and put beside your keyboard if you wish.
One thing really really annoys me about the Eclipse ide: its find UI is so old style.
I would much prefer something like Firefox or Safari, that doesn't clutter my screen real estate with a useless window.
(source: eclipse-blog.org)
Press ctrl+j. Is that what you want?
Hold down shift to go backwards.
you can also select the word you want to search and use ctrl+K, use shift to go backwards.
And, if Eclipse's incremental search is not enough, you could always use a plugin like Glance.From their site:
Glance is an Eclipse plug-in providing extensible useful incremental text search in Eclipse. This plug-in supports the following features:
highlight all found matches
background search which never blocks text box
search in tables and trees
update matches when target content changed
new text containers can be supported through extension points
a lot of search settings
You mean, like... Ctrl+F, and then Ctrl+K?
You don't have to use the Search menu.
On the other hand, if you just don't like the popup dialog, I think you're SOL for now.
The Eclipse "find" dialog does more than "find" on browsers you mentioned (e.g. search-and-replace, etc.) Having more options means more real estate to control them.
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I have been using Eclipse as an IDE for a short amount of time (about 3 months of full use) and almost every day I learn about some shortcut or feature that I had absolutely no idea about. For instance, just today I learned that Ctrl+3 was the shortcut for a Quick Access window.
I was wondering what your most useful/favorite Eclipse features are. With the IDE being so big, it would be helpful to learn about the more commonly used parts of the program.
My most commonly used features are
ctrl+1 quick-fix / spell-checker
opening files
ctrl+shift+t load class file by classname
ctrl+shift+r load any file by filename
matches are made on the start of the class/filename. start your search pattern with a * to search anywhere within the filename/classname.
Formatting
ctrl+shift+f Format source file
(set up your formatting style in Window | preferences | java | code style | formatter)
ctrl+shift+o Organise imports
Generated code
alt+s,r to generate getters and setters
alt+s,v to insert method signatures for overidden methods from superclass or interface
Refactorings
alt+shift+l Extract text-selection as local variable (really handy in that it determines and inserts the type for you.
alt+shift+m Extract text-selection as a method
alt+shift+i inline selected method
Running and debugging.
alt+shift+x is a really handy prefix to run stuff in your current file.
alt+shift+x, t run unit tests in current file
alt+shift+x, j run main in current file
alt+shift+x, r run on server
There are more. The options are shown to you in the lower-right popup after hitting alt+shift+x.
alt+shift+x can be switched for alt+shift+d in all the above examples to run in the debugger.
Validation
As of the recent Ganymede release, you can now switch of validation in specified files and folders. I've been waiting for this feature for ages.
Go to Project | Properties | Validation
click on the ... button in the settings column of the validator you want to shut up
Add a rule to the exclude group
code navigation
hold down ctrl to make all variables, methods and classnames hyperlinks to their definitions.
alt+left to navigate back to where you clicked ctrl
alt+right to go "forwards" again
This is cool: If someone has emailed you a stack trace, you can copy and paste the stack trace into Eclipse's Console window. You can then click on class names in the stack trace as if your own code had generated it.
In terms of actual features, rather than shortcuts, I strongly recommend taking a look at Mylyn.
It essentially skins Eclipse with a task focussed view. It tracks the files you touch when working on a task, and focusses many aspects of the UI onto the resources that it decides are relevant to the job in hand. Eclipse can be somewhat busy to look at, especially with a big multi module project, and Mylyn helps cut through the cruft. The connectivity to issue tracking software and source control repositories is also excellent.
In my experience, it polarises opinion amongst those who try working with it, which is probably a sign that it is offering something interesting... Don't mean to sound like a fanboy - it is definitely worth a look though.
A shortcut that I use everyday is Ctrl+K. In your editor (not only Java file), simply select a text (like a variable, a function, etc.), and then use this shortcut to go to the next occurrence of this text in the current editor.
It's faster than using the Ctrl+F shortcut...
Note also that you can use Ctrl+Shift+K to search backwards.
Ctrl-Alt (up/down) Copy selected line(s) above or below current line.
Alt (up/down) Move current (or multiple selected) lines up or down
Ctrl-Shift-R Bring up the resource window, start typing to find class/resource
Ctrl-O Bring up all methods and fields for the current class. Hitting it again will bring up all methods and fields for current class and super classes.
Ctrl-/ or Ctrl-Alt-C Comment single or multiple lines with //
Ctrl-Shift-/ Comment selected lines with /* */
Ctrl-. Take you to the next error or warning line
CTRL+PAGE DOWN / CTRL+PAGE UP to switch between opened editors
CTRL+E to also switch between opened editors (allows to type the name)
CTRL+O is extremely important for me. You don't longer need the Outline View then (you can close it which will give you more space). Then, you can type a method name or just the beginning of it and you quickly can get to it. I also use it to inspect what stuff is available. For example: CTRL+O and then type get ... now I see all getters.
F3 while an element is selected in the code: brings you to its definition or it's source. e.g. used on a method call it brings you into the source code of that method.
CTRL+M to maximize the current window
As already said, CTRL+3 is extremely good. It basically allows you to use Eclipse completely without a mouse. Just type CTRL+3 and then package explorer for example.
CTRL+F8 cycle trough perspectives
CTRL+L allows to type a line number and brings you directly to that line.
CTRL+SHIFT+G searches for all references to the selected element in the workspace.
And not a shortcut: In the project settings under Java Editor you can find Save Actions. This allows you to set up the project so that the code is automatically cleaned up and formatted when you save a file. That's very good it safes you from constantly pressing CTRL+O and CTRL+F.
Eclipse auto refresh isn't on by default so if you make changes to a file outside of eclipse, the change won't be reflected in your build. this is very annoying if you just did an svn/git update/rebase and things aren't working the way they're supposed to.
Turn it on in windows->preferences->workspace and tick Refresh Automatically.
Local History
It's a great feature. Eclipse has its own mini-CVS for all files in a project. If you want to revert some change you made, or even restore deleted file - you can right click on the project and select "Restore from Local History".
Just saved my ass *tears of joy*
CTRL+Shift+P to jump to the matching bracket/parenthesis.
One key feature: Shift+Alt+T for the refactoring menu.
Ctrl-shift-T, but only type the initial characters (and even a few
more) of the class you're looking
for. For example, you can type
"NetLi" to find NetworkListener
In the Search window, Ctrl-. takes you to the first leaf of a tree branch
Alt-/ is Word Completion. Slightly different from Ctrl-space
CTRL+SHIFT+X selected text becomes UPPERCASE
CTRL+SHIFT+Y selected text becomes lowercase
I'd like to add two additional shortcuts:
CTRL+F6 Switch between open editors (CTRL+SHIFT+F6 to scroll through the list in the opposite direction)
CTRL+F11 start program in debug mode
F11 start program in normal mode
A lot of the key bindings depend on the perspective and view currently active.
My most used ones for the Java perspective:
ctrl-shift-r open resource
ctrl-shift-t open type
ctrl-1 quick fix/refactor
ctrl-j incremental search
ctrl-h search in files (select a base directory and set scope to selected resources)
ctrl-o list methods
ctrl-alt-h open call hierarchy
ctrl-shift-l list shortcut keys
hit ctrl-shift-l again to go directly to preferences to change key mappings
I am also a fan of Eclipse, however since I spend a majority of my time in Visual Studio, I will suggest that you read Eric Sink's series of articles "C# to Java" (parts 1-4). Not only is Eric always an entertaining read, but this brief series covers some awesome Eclipse insight for those who have not been into Eclipse or have been away from it for a while:
From C# to Java: Part 1
From C# to Java: Part 2
From C# to Java: Part 3
From C# to Java: Part 4
Ctrl-Shift-M while the cursor is on a class name in your java file, will specifically add that and only that class to your imports. This is different from Ctrl-Shift-O which will not only add those imports not already defined, but will also remove imports not currently needed, something you might not necessarily want to do.
I forgot about [Ctrl+2 -> r] scope variable rename. Place the cursor in the variable you wish to rename, press Ctrl+2, then r, then type the new name watching all instances of that variable get renamed at the same time.
It's awesome at refactoring Hungarian Notation.
alt-shift-a is extremely useful in a few situations.
I use a lot of the above and also like for quick search: CTRL+J then type what I am looking for, then CTRL+K for next occurrence.
Lately I've been using the MouseFeeds plugin to automatically tell me what the key stroke combinations are. That way by repetition I remember them better.
This link has a better picture and description of what it looks like and does.
Shift+Alt+b for the simple navigation row over the editor.
I've just released this blog post about Top 5 Useful Hidden Eclipse Features. It contains:
Favorites: Types and members that will always show up in auto-completion
The awesome block selection mode: For multi-line editing
The EGit staging view: Much better than git itself
Type filters: To remove awt and java.lang.Object stuff from auto-completion
Formatter tags: To delimit code sections that shouldn't be auto-formatted
Alt+left and Alt+ right will navigate you forward and back.
I find the project-specific settings useful in Eclipse 3.3.
For example, if you have several developers working on a project who have different code styles for curly braces, line spacing, number of imports etc. then you can specify the style settings for the project. Then you can configure the save actions so that the code is automatically formatted when a file is saved. The result is everyone's code is formatted the same before it's checked in.