This seems like something I would have found hundreds of topics on. Yet I didn't find a single one. I wonder if no one cares or if I just overlooked something obvious.
In Visual Studio when you select a column and want to select the word your cursor is at in each line, when you do CtrlShift+(ARROW KEY), then it doesn't select by word as it SHOULD, but instead it selects a square.
BAD BEHAVIOUR (which VS has):
GOOD BEHAVIOUR (which would be expected, and is in every other IDE):
The Visual Studio ALT select is rendered useless in half the cases, actually in every case where you don't have the "coordinates" precisely the same on every line.
EDIT
I seem to have to explain why the VS behavior is bad, people apparently consider it ok. So the problem is that when you column select in VS, and you have it exactly like in the example, or even without tabs, you'd copy some =, though they won't be everywhere.
If you select a column like VS Code or JetBrains has it, you'll just copy WHAT IS NEEDED and that OBVIOUSLY being just the words in the column.
I have a solution for you, but you may not like it. It's using the new Multi-Caret Support in Visual Studio 2017.
Here is my example code where I want to copy only the property names (sorry for lack of inline images):
Multi-Caret Code Example
Using Ctrl + Alt + Click to click and add a caret to the end of each word. (If you screw up and click somewhere you didn't mean, like I do many times, then reclick to remove that caret and click on the correct spot.)
Multi-Caret End of Line
Now hold Ctrl + Shift and hit the ← Left Arrow. This will select to the beginning of the current word on each line.
Multi-Caret Word Selected
Copy/paste as you wish
Related
Sometimes I'll have classes/methods/variables with similar naming. For example, GetABar() and GetAFooWithABar() (assuming for the sake of example that these aren't horrible names to begin with).
I get into situations where I want to change one of the calls from the former to the latter, and when I start typing in the middle of the name, I'll get an auto-complete suggestion. If I select the suggestion, the following results:
GetAFooWithABarABar()
In Eclipse, there's a handy feature called completion overwrite which you can set as a default, or select on the fly by holding down Ctrl when you select the suggested term. Does Visual Studio or Resharper have a similar feature?
In ReSharper, you get a different result if you complete with Enter or Tab. If you hit Enter, it will insert the text, as you describe above. But if you hit Tab, it will replace the text to the right of the text caret, and should give you the result you're after.
How can I enable to select only one character by mouse in Visual Studio 2013?
It's comfortable after a typo to select it by mouse, but here I must select at least two or three characters to make a selection for editing.
edit:
to be clear let's say the cursor is already far away from that typo and VS have default setting with added opencv. Still it won't select only one character, I must click, hold, move for at least three to make a selection (or more rows).
It's already enabled and you shouldn't modify anything. Visual Studio does not interfere with mouse settings and you should be able to use it just like you would with any other text editor.
I know it is annoying!
To select a single character
double click it with the left mouse.
If the character is in a word, unfortunately,
you will have to click in front of the character, then holding shift select past the character.
It's a pity you only got rude responses.
Not a very good solution but will still help your workflow if you are used to selecting a single character via the mouse :)
All right, this is stupid, but I have no clue how people deal with this and I'm hoping I'm missing something...
When I write something like this:
if (n == 0)
...The closing parenthesis gets added as soon as I type the opening one. The only way I know of to get out of them now is to reach over and tap the End key or something, which kind of ... Damages my shui, you know? And yet apparently they thought this feature was a cool idea, so...
What do you normally do to tell the IDE that you're done with this bit and you're ready to move on to the next? Same question applies to automatic quotes and stuff in the XAML editor, I guess.
Just keep typing - if you type your own ) when the cursor is just before the automatic one, it should not create another ), but just move the cursor over it.
(Disclaimer: I'm not certain this works on a vanilla Visual Studio - I have a bunch of extensions installed)
You can press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to open a new line below the current one without moving the cursor to the end of the line.
To add to this, Tab is another option and I find it easier:
In your example, type the logic, press Tab to skip passed the end bracket.
If you are inside auto quotes, type your text, then press Tab twice.
Like the other answer, it only applies when first being typed, so if you go back to edit something, you are left using the End and Arrow keys.
In Visual Studio 2015 with Productivity Power Tools installed (probably works earlier as well), when being inside an auto-complete block (quotes or braces):
end goes to line end ( typically slow to type/find)
"/) typing same key as auto-complete already inserted will simply replace the auto-inserted character
tab jumps over end of auto-complete (e. g. braces or quotes)
shift+enter adds ; at end of line, goes to new line (often what you want)
ctrl+shift+enter goes to new line
There is a short key in VS - "Edit.LineEnd" - pressing "End" you get to the end of the current line. I've re-assigned it (for me the best variant was "Alt-Enter") and use it to get outside of parentheses and quotes.
Hit the enter key when you are done typing.
I don't quite know how to phrase this question, but basically what happens is:
if i smart indent in visual studio, then click somewhere else on the page or even on the exact same line that has the smart indent, it then goes away, as if I'd had no indenting at all, not even block indenting.
It just puts the cursor/insertion point at the very beginning of the line.
EDIT: BTW I recently formatted my computer and I'm almost certain this wasn't the case before, I'm guessing it's a setting, but I've been fiddling around with all the settings trying to change this, but I can't.
Open Tools->Options. Navigate to Text Editor on the LHS. Select the source type (C++, VB, etc.). Open the tree view node and select Tabs. There, on the RHS you'll find your option
There is a command in Visual Studio 2005 called Edit.SelectToLastGoBack (bound to Ctrl + =).
I presume it is supposed to select all the text between the current cursor position and the last 'Go Back' point, but I can't work out the algorithm it's using for deciding what that point is.
Does anyone know how to use this potentially very useful command?
Selects to the last juimp point ...
Try using the navigation bar to jump to another method in class. Then press Ctrl + "="
It will select from the start of method you jumped to all the way back to where you jumped from.
I have yet to find a use for it though TBH,
Kindness,
Dan
I use it for recording macros.
Frequently I want to select everything from this brace to that brace and cut it in a macro. Go to the first brace, hit ctrl-f (ctrl-i doesn't work right in macros), search to the second brace, close search with escape, and hit ctrl-= to get everything between the braces selected. This is much more reliably repeatable in a macro than something like using ctrl arrows to navigate a word at a time while holding down shift, and is similar to the emacs concept of setting a mark point.
I'm not sure what all starts a new 'location in navigation history', but I'm sure starting a search does and that's all I need.
I just discovered this command is available in Visual Studio 2012. I've been looking for it ever since I got VS 2012. I kept thinking it was something like anchor, like select everything between the anchor and point. I was disappointed that macro recording and playing are no longer available. But I am glad this command still exists.
Another useful command is ctrl+k ctrl+a, which is Edit.SwapAnchor. So, you could be someplace in the code, then do a find. Now you have the point and anchor (maybe also known as the cursor and last goback). You can do ctrl+= to select, then ctrl+k ctrl+a then extend from the other end using another find--or something like that.