Eclipse Shortcuts

1. Shortcuts

1.1. Using shortcuts in Eclipse

Using shortcuts make a developer more productive. Eclipse provides keyboard shortcuts for the most common actions. Using shortcuts is usually preferable as you can perform actions much faster.

Eclipse supports of course the typical shortcuts, e.g. Ctrl+S for saving, Ctrl+C for copying the selected text or file and Ctrl+V for pasting the element currently in the clipboard.

1.2. Shortcuts on macOS

This description uses the shortcuts based on Windows and Linux. macOS uses the Cmd key frequently instead of the Ctrl key.

2. Quick Access

Ctrl+3 opens Quick Access. It finds and runs any command, for example to open a view, a wizard, a preference page or an open editor. Type a part of the name and select the entry.

The following screenshot shows the entries for "New".

Table 1. Navigation
Shortcut	Description
`Ctrl`+`Shift`+`R`	Open a resource, for example a text file
`Ctrl`+`Shift`+`T`	Open a Java type
`Ctrl`+`F8`	Switch to the next perspective

Table 2. Navigation between editors
Shortcut	Description
`Ctrl`+`E`	Select one of the open editors
`Alt`+`←`	Go back to the previous location, also in another editor
`Alt`+`→`	Go forward to the next location
`Ctrl`+`Q`	Go to the last edit location
`Ctrl`+`PageUp`	Switch to the previous editor
`Ctrl`+`PageDown`	Switch to the next editor

Table 3. Navigation between views
Shortcut	Description
`Ctrl`+`F7`	Switch to another view, repeat the key to cycle through the views
`Alt`+`Shift`+`Q`	Show the menu of the Show View key bindings
`Alt`+`Shift`+`Q`, `P`	Show the Package Explorer
`Alt`+`Shift`+`Q`, `C`	Show the Console

4. Running Java programs

Table 4. Running programs
Shortcut	Description
`Ctrl`+`F11`	Run the last launched application
`F11`	Debug the last launched application
`Ctrl`+`Alt`+`B`	Skip all breakpoints, for example to use the debug mode only for hot code replace
`Alt`+`Shift`+`X`, `J`	Run the selected class as Java application
`Alt`+`Shift`+`X`, `T`	Run as JUnit test
`Alt`+`Shift`+`X`, `P`	Run as JUnit Plug-in Test

5. Editing in the Java editor

Table 5. Editor
Shortcut	Description
`Ctrl`+`1`	Quick Fix for the cursor position
`Ctrl`+`Space`	Content assist
`Ctrl`+`T`	Show the type hierarchy of the class or method
`Ctrl`+`O`	Show the methods of the class, press again to include inherited methods
`Ctrl`+`M`	Maximize or restore the active editor or view
`Ctrl`+`Shift`+`F`	Format the source code
`Ctrl`+`I`	Correct the indentation
`Ctrl`+`F`	Open the find/replace bar
`Ctrl`+`Shift`+`O`	Organize imports, adds missing and removes unused imports
`Alt`+`Shift`+`Z`	Surround the selection, for example with `try`/`catch`

Table 6. Cursor navigation and selection
Shortcut	Description
`Ctrl`+`←` or `Ctrl`+`→`	Move to the previous or next word
`Ctrl`+`↑` or `Ctrl`+`↓`	Scroll one line up or down
`Ctrl`+`Shift`+`P`	Go to the matching bracket
`Shift`+`cursor keys`	Select text
`Alt`+`Shift`+`↑`	Expand the selection to the enclosing element
`Alt`+`Shift`+`↓`	Restore the previous selection
`Alt`+`Shift`+`←` or `Alt`+`Shift`+`→`	Expand the selection to the previous or next element

Table 7. Copying and moving lines
Shortcut	Description
`Ctrl`+`Alt`+`↓`	Duplicate the current line below
`Ctrl`+`Alt`+`↑`	Duplicate the current line above
`Alt`+`↑`	Move the line up
`Alt`+`↓`	Move the line down

Table 8. Deleting
Shortcut	Description
`Ctrl`+`D`	Delete the line
`Ctrl`+`Shift`+`Delete`	Delete to the end of the line
`Ctrl`+`Delete`	Delete the next word
`Ctrl`+`Backspace`	Delete the previous word

Table 9. Creating new lines
Shortcut	Description
`Shift`+`Enter`	Insert a line below the current line and move the cursor there, without splitting the current line
`Ctrl`+`Shift`+`Enter`	Insert a line above the current line

Table 10. Assigning to variables
Shortcut	Description
`Ctrl`+`2`, `L`	Assign the expression to a new local variable
`Ctrl`+`2`, `F`	Assign the expression to a new field

6. Coding

Table 11. Coding
Shortcut	Description
`F2`	Show the Javadoc of the element under the cursor in a hover
`Shift`+`F2`	Open the external Javadoc of the element
`Alt`+`Shift`+`N`	Open the New menu
`Alt`+`Shift`+`S`	Open the Source menu, for example to generate code

7. Refactoring

Table 12. Refactoring
Shortcut	Description
`Alt`+`Shift`+`R`	Rename
`Ctrl`+`2`, `R`	Rename in file
`Alt`+`Shift`+`M`	Extract method
`Alt`+`Shift`+`L`	Extract local variable
`Alt`+`Shift`+`T`	Open the refactoring menu for the selection

8. Minimum

Every Eclipse user should know the following shortcuts.

Table 13. Must-know shortcuts
Shortcut	Description
`Ctrl`+`S`	Save the active editor
`Ctrl`+`1`	Quick Fix, shows fixes and actions for the cursor position
`Ctrl`+`Space`	Content assist
`Ctrl`+`3`	Quick Access, find and run any command
`Ctrl`+`Shift`+`L`	Show all key bindings
`Ctrl`+`Q`	Go to the last edit location
`Ctrl`+`D`	Delete the current line
`Ctrl`+`Shift`+`O`	Organize imports
`Ctrl`+`2`, `L` or `F`	Assign the expression to a new local variable or field
`Ctrl`+`Shift`+`T`	Open a type
`Ctrl`+`O`	Quick outline of the class
`Ctrl`+`F11`	Run the last launched application
`Shift`+`F10`	Open the context menu
`Ctrl`+`F10`	Open the view menu of the active view

9. Links and literature

Nothing listed.

9.1. vogella Java example code

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Eclipse Shortcuts - Tutorial