Top 30 Eclipse Keyboard Shortcuts for Java Programmers [UPDATED] (original) (raw)

I was a big fan of Netbeans IDE before I came across Eclipse. One of the main reasons for that was my 2ME background, and Netbeans provide a sophisticated IDE environment to enable you to build, debug and run your Java application in various mobile emulators including some advanced processing options like preprocessing, setting up Exception breakpoint, etc.

From that time, I love to know keyboard shortcuts on IDEs and other tools I used for development, including Edit Plus, Notepad++, Microsoft Excel, etc. Knowing your tools better certainly helps you to deliver more in less time and find something really quick when a production issue arises.

As I said, I was a big NetBeans fan at the start of my career but when I joined an investment bank I came across Eclipse IDE since everybody in my team is using Eclipse and Netbeans IDE was not available in the company (don’t know why NetBeans was not allowed even though it was free) I have decided to go Eclipse way.

Later I found that Eclipse is most suited for that distributed core Java application, which runs on Eclipse and depends upon a proprietary Linux library. It wasn't possible to run the whole application in Windows, and at that time some of the cool features of Eclipse like. Remote Debugging, Conditional Breakpoints, Exception breakpoints, and Ctrl+T and Ctrl+R kind of shortcuts really saved my life.

Here I am sharing a list of 30 Eclipse keyboard shortcuts, which I found most useful and used in my day-to-day life while writing code, reading the code, or debugging Java application in Eclipse. Btw, if you are new to the Java world, I suggest you first learn Java by joining a comprehensive course like The Complete Java Masterclass on Udemy, which is recently updated to cover the latest Java version.

Here is my list of 30 chosen Eclipse IDE keyboard shortcuts for Java developers. It's useful for both core Java developers and Java web application developers using Eclipse IDE for web development.

  1. Ctrl + Shift + T for finding a class even from a JAR file

This keyboard shortcut in Eclipse is my most used and favorite shortcut. While working with a high-speed trading system that has a complex code, I often need to find classes in the just blink of an eye, and this Eclipse keyboard shortcut is just made for that. No matter whether you have a class in your application or inside any JAR in the workspace, this shortcut will find it.

  1. Ctrl + Shift + R for finding any resource (file) including config xml files

This is similar to the above Eclipse shortcut with the only difference that it can find out not only Java files but any files, including XML, configs, and many others, but this eclipse shortcut only finds files from your workspace and doesn’t dig at the JAR level.

  1. Ctrl + 1 for quick fix

This is another beautiful Eclipse shortcut that can fix up any error for you in Eclipse. Whether it’s missing declaration, missing semi-colon, or any import-related error, this eclipse shortcut will help you to quickly sort that out.

  1. Ctrl + Shift + o for organize imports

Another Eclipse keyboard shortcut for fixing missing imports. Particularly helpful if you copy some code from other files and what to import all dependencies.

You can further see The Eclipse Guided Tour - Part 1 and 2 on Pluralsight to learn more about code formatting shortcuts in Eclipse.

Top 30 Eclipse Keyboard Shortcuts for Java Programmer

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Eclipse Shortcut for Quick Navigation

In this section, we will see some eclipse keyboard shortcut which helps to quickly navigate within the file and between file while reading and writing code in Eclipse.

  1. Ctrl + o for quick outline going quickly to a method

  2. Alt + right and Alt + left for going back and forth while editing.

  3. Alt + Shift + W to show a class in the package explorer

  4. Ctrl + Shift + Up and down for navigating from member to member (variables and methods)

  5. Ctrl + k and Ctrl + Shift +K for find next/previous

  6. Go to a type declaration: F3,This Eclipse shortcut is very useful to see function definition very quickly.

Apart from these keyboard shortcuts, learning how to debug a Java program in Eclipse is also a skill. There are so many debugging tools and features available in Eclipse, which many Java programmer doesn't know like conditional debugging, hit count, and remote debugging.

If you really want to become a good Java developer, I suggest you improve your debugging skill, and if you need some help with Eclipse Debugging Techniques And Tricks are the best place to start with.

Java Eclipse shortcuts and tips

Eclipse Shortcut for Editing Code

These Eclipse shortcuts are beneficial for editing code in Eclipse:

  1. Ctrl + / for commenting, uncommenting lines, and blocks, see here for a live example.

  2. Ctrl + Shift + / for commenting, uncommenting lines with block comment, see here for example.

  3. Selecting class and pressing F4 to see its Type hierarchy

  4. Ctrl + F4 or Ctrl + w for closing current file

  5. Ctrl+Shirt+W for closing all files.

  6. Ctrl + l go to line

  7. Select text and press Ctrl + Shift + F for formatting.

  8. Ctrl + F for find, find/replace

  9. Ctrl + D to delete a line

  10. Ctrl + Q for going to the last edited place

Miscellaneous Eclipse Shortcuts

These are different Eclipse keyboard shortcuts that don’t fit on any category but quite helpful and make life very easy while working in Eclipse.

  1. Ctrl + T for toggling between supertype and subtype

  2. Go to other open editors: Ctrl + E.

  3. Move from one problem (i.e., error, warning) to the next (or previous) in a file: Ctrl +. For next, and Ctrl +, for the previous problem

  4. Hop back and forth through the files you have visited: Alt + ← and Alt + → , respectively.

  5. CTRL+Shift+G, which searches the workspace for references to the selected method or variable

  6. Ctrl+Shift+L to view the listing for all Eclipse keyboard shortcuts.

  7. Alt + Shift + j to add Javadoc at any place in the Java source file.

  8. CTRL+SHIFT+P to find a closing brace. Place the cursor at the opening brace and use this.

  9. Alt+Shift+X, Q to run Ant build file using keyboard shortcuts in Eclipse.

  10. Ctrl + Shift +F for Autoformatting.

If you need to see these shortcuts in action, you can also join The Eclipse Guided Tour - Part 1 and 2 online courses on Pluralsight. It's not free but costs you around a $29 monthly subscription fee but also gives you access to more than 5000 courses on Pluralsight on the latest technology, which is totally worth it.

Remember, programmers are technical people, if you are not learning which means you are going backward.

If you're a developer, you owe it to yourself to have a @pluralsight subscription. Sometimes, you need the flexibility to take many courses without buying each one of them.

And, here is a nice image to remember these useful Eclipse shortcuts for Java programmers:

Useful Eclipse Shortcuts for Java Developers

If you have some more useful Eclipse keyboard shortcuts, then please post them as comments, I will include them in this list. These Eclipse shortcuts will mostly work with almost all Eclipse versions e.g., 3.5, 3.6 Helios, Eclipse Ganymede, and Indigo. Let me know if you face any issues while using these Eclipse shortcuts in any particular version of Eclipse IDE.

If you like this tutorial and wants to learn more productivity tips, tricks, and new features of Eclipse IDE, then you can also see the following guides and tutorials:

Thanks for reading this article so far. If you like these Eclipse keyboard shortcuts, then please share this article with your friends and colleagues. If you have any questions or feedback, please drop a note.

P.S. - If you are looking for some free online courses to learn Eclipse better and improve your productivity then I suggest you check out this list of 6 Free Courses to Learn Eclipse and JUnit which not only teach you Eclipse better but also introduce you to JUnit, one of the most popular Java testing library.