Important shortcuts for Eclipse & CFEclipse

Categories: HTML/ColdFusion

[UPDATED: Thursday, July 31, 2008 at 10:38:30 AM]

Two great posts by Mike Henke and John Whish over the past week cover some really important keyboard shortcuts for Eclipse & CFEclipse. They cover the gamut of some of my favorites (like CTRL+SHIFT+R) and some ones I always forget about (such as CTRL+DEL and CTRL+BACKSPACE.) These are definitely shortcuts you should be memorizing to make you work more efficient.

General Eclipse Shortcuts

[CTRL]+[SHIFT]+[L]
A list of all keyboard shortcuts (not mapped by default in CFEclipse--you can create a copy of this shortcut in the Keys preferences and map to [CTRL]+[ALT]+[K] which is open in CFEclipse.)
[CTRL]+[K]
Finds the next occurrence of the highlight text. (NOTE: This is one of the best ways to jump around your document.)
[CTRL]+[SHIFT]+[K]
Finds the previous occurrence of the highlight text.
[CTRL]+[H]
Brings up the Search & Replace dialog.
[CTRL]+[D]
Delete the current line.
[CTRL]+[SHIFT]+[DEL]
Deletes to the end of the current line.
[CTRL]+[DEL]
Deletes the next word.
[CTRL]+[BACKSPACE]
Deletes the previous word.
[CTRL]+[SHIFT]+[X]
Converts highlighted text to uppercase.
[CTRL]+[SHIFT]+[Y]
Converts highlighted text to lowercase. </DD
[CTRL]+[Q]
Goes to the last place you made a change.
[ALT]+[LEFT]
Goes "back" to the last open editor in your viewing history.
[ALT]+[RIGHT]
Goes "forward" to the next open editor in your viewing history.
[CTRL]+[E]
The Quick Switch Editor opens a list of all open editors and allows you to quickly switch to any open file.
[CTRL]+[SHIFT]+[R]
The Open Resource dialogs allows you to quickly open any files in your workspace. This is one I use all the time.
[CTRL]+[3]
The Quick Access menu pretty much helps you find anything in Eclipse by providing a keyword.
[CTRL]+[SHIFT]+[E]
The Switch to Editor brings up a list of all open editors (and can even span multiple windows.)
[CTRL]+[UP]
Moves the current (or higlighted) rows up one line.
[CTRL]+[DOWN]
Moves the current (or higlighted) rows down one line.
[CTRL]+[ALT]+[UP]
Inserts a copy of the currently highlighted line above the current line.
[CTRL]+[ALT]+[DOWN]
Inserts a copy of the currently highlighted line below the current line.
[CTRL]+[ALT]+[RIGHT]
Shifts (indents) the current or highlighted line(s) to the right. Much faster than highlighting the line(s) and using the [TAB] key.
[CTRL]+[ALT]+[LEFT]
Shifts (un-indents) the current or highlighted line(s) to the left. Much faster than highlighting the line(s) and using the [SHIFT]+[TAB] key.
[CTRL]+[HOME]
Jumps to the beginning of the current file.
[CTRL]+[END]
Jumps to the end of the current file.

CFEclipse Shortcuts

[CTRL]+[3]
Wraps text inside #...#.
[CTRL]+[T]
Edit current tag.
[CTRL]+[SHIFT]+[A]
Inserts <cfabort/> tag.
[CTRL]+[SHIFT]+[D]
Inserts <cfdump/> tag.
[CTRL]+[SHIFT]+[O]
Wraps text inside <cfoutput>...</cfoutput> tags.
[CTRL]+[SHIFT]+[N]
When focus is inside of an HTML/CFML tag, it will jump to the matching open or close tag.
[CTRL]+[SHIFT]+[U]
Converts highlighted text to uppercase. (NOTE: I recommend using [CTRL]+[SHIFT]+[X] instead because it's a general Eclipse shortcut.)
[CTRL]+[SHIFT]+[L]
Converts highlighted text to lowercase. (NOTE: I recommend using [CTRL]+[SHIFT]+[Y] instead because it's a general Eclipse shortcut.)
[CTRL]+[SHIFT]+[P]
Wraps text inside <p>...</p> tags.
[CTRL]+[SHIFT]+[C]
Wraps text inside a contextual comment (i.e. <!--...--> for HTML, /*...*/ for scripts).
[CTRL]+[SHIFT]+[M]
Wraps text inside <!---...---> tags.
[CTRL]+[SHIFT]+[Z]
Opens the color picker.
[CTRL]+[\]
Expands or collapses the current code block (<cfif>, <cffunction>, <cfswitch>, etc.)

In CFEclipse, most of your standard shortcuts for formatting (i.e. [CTRL]+[B] = strong) work as well. Learning keyboard shortcuts can really speed up your development process, so I recommend trying to learn one or two a week and introduce them into your coding habits.

Dan - Jul 10, 2008 @ 10:53 AM Bookmark/Share Link 1510 Views Print Comments (16)

Comments

todd sharp's Gravatar Sweet! Printing this out now - there are some huge time savers here. Don't forget about CTRL+ENTER (inserts a <br/> tag) and SHIFT+ENTER (breaks to a new line no matter where you are without a hard carriage return).
todd sharp - Jul 10, 2008 @ 11:11 AM
Matt Williams's Gravatar Another one I find handy. I think I discovered it accidentally even.
[CTRL]+[\] - collapses or expands the current code block (within cffunction, cfif, cfswitch, etc)
Matt Williams - Jul 10, 2008 @ 3:04 PM
Aaron Longnion's Gravatar ctrl+k: does a forward "find next" within document on whatever's currently highlighted

ctrl+shift+k: does a *backward* "find next" within document on whatever's currently highlighted

ctrl+alt+up: repeats the line that's currently highlighted

ctrl+home: jumps to beginning of doc
ctrl+end: jumps to end of doc

ctrl+H: file search & replace dialog

I'm on Eclipse 3.3.1 (not sure if that makes a difference). Also, in my Help menu there's a Key Assist item that gives you more all shortcuts available. :)

btw - if you can, update your blog software to accept emails with plus signs - see http://cfzen.instantspot.com/blog/2008/04/30/Does-...
Aaron Longnion - Jul 10, 2008 @ 4:01 PM
Dan G. Switzer, II's Gravatar @Aaron:

I can't believe I left off [CTRL]+[K] and [CTRL]+[SHIFT]+[K]. I use those two shortcuts more than any others.

I've updated the list with some of the other suggestions.
Dan G. Switzer, II - Jul 10, 2008 @ 4:42 PM
rob's Gravatar Splitting hairs a bit, but [CTRL]+[SHIFT]+[C] actually wraps the text in comments based on the section of the file. So in html it does !--, but in javascript and cfscript it does /* */

Great list btw
rob - Jul 11, 2008 @ 1:18 AM
Dan G. Switzer, II's Gravatar @Rob:

Thanks for the info. I've updated the list to specify the comments are contextual. I wasn't aware that they were.
Dan G. Switzer, II - Jul 11, 2008 @ 7:47 AM
System Analyst Abhijeet's Gravatar This is pretty extensive list of Eclipse. I can say, I did not know [CTRL]+[\] and should be of good use for me. Passing on the blog URL to my team mates

Abhijeet
System Analyst Abhijeet - Jul 12, 2008 @ 12:53 AM
Dan G. Switzer, II's Gravatar @Abhijeet:

Quite frankly, the most important one is: [CTRL]+[SHIFT]+[L] (which you need to make a copy of to work in CFEclipse.) That brings up the "Show Key Assist" pop-up which shows you ever keyboard shortcut currently available to you. While this list can be quite cumbersome, it's great to have at your finger tips and a great way to "remember" those keyboard shortcuts you keep forgetting.
Dan G. Switzer, II - Jul 12, 2008 @ 7:16 AM
Cameron's Gravatar @Dan

FYI - Abhijeet is a comment spammer. His posts are just enough on topic to look legit, but he is a SEO slimeball.
Cameron - Jul 12, 2008 @ 12:48 PM
Dan G. Switzer, II's Gravatar @Cameron:

Thanks for the heads up. I've removed his link.
Dan G. Switzer, II - Jul 12, 2008 @ 1:57 PM
Matt Williams's Gravatar I can't believe I forgot about these 2.

[CTRL]+[UP] - moves current line or selected lines up one line
[CTRL]+[DOWN] - moves current line or selected lines down one line

I use them in conjunction with Ctrl-Alt-Up / Down all the time. Note that adding the Alt modifier copies either the current line or selected lines (automatically expands to full lines if partial selected).
Matt Williams - Jul 14, 2008 @ 5:16 PM
Mike Schierberl's Gravatar Note, you listed [CTRL]+[SHIFT]+[N] 2x on your list, for matching open/close and the color picker. I believe the color picker is [CTRL]+[SHIFT]+[Z]
Mike Schierberl - Jul 22, 2008 @ 7:45 PM
Dan G. Switzer, II's Gravatar @Mike:

Thanks for the correction. You are correct and I've updated the list.
Dan G. Switzer, II - Jul 23, 2008 @ 8:09 AM
Dan G. Switzer, II's Gravatar I've updated the list with a few more suggestions and other keyboard shortcuts I've started using.
Dan G. Switzer, II - Jul 31, 2008 @ 10:52 AM
Dav R's Gravatar Hi Dan,

I just wonder if there is any (CF) Eclpise plug-in is available to have the design view of a html/cfm page?..

Regards,
Dav R
Dav R - Sep 18, 2008 @ 5:16 AM
Dan G. Switzer, II's Gravatar @Dav R:

You can only use one "editor" at a time in Eclipse. So even if you find an HTML designer editor for Eclipse, you wouldn't be able to use it and CFEclipse at the same time.

As for whether a design editor exists, I really don't know (I've never looked for one.) You might check MyEclipse--it might have something. I don't really like WYSIWYG. I code faster by hand.
Dan G. Switzer, II - Sep 18, 2008 @ 8:10 AM

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