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Top 30 Eclipse Keyboard Shortcuts for Java Programmers

This tutorial is about 30 Eclipse keyboard shortcuts, this list is by no means complete and I will suggest you guys share eclipse shortcuts listed other than here to make this more useful. Eclipse is the most used Java development IDE and knowing these Eclipse shortcuts not only improve your productivity but also makes you more efficient. You will have more time for things you like to do. Using keyboard shortcuts also helps to impress colleagues and shows that you have a good hold on tools you used for Java Development. If you are a Java developer, who use Eclipse as your main IDE for all-purpose e.g. coding, development, and debugging, then I also suggest you take a look at 
Beginners Eclipse Java IDE Training Course
, one of the best course to learn how to use Eclipse effectively from Java programmer's perspective.

I was a big fan of Netbeans IDE before coming across Eclipse because I was from the J2ME background and Netbeans provide sophisticated IDE environment to enable you to build, debug and run your Java application in various mobile emulator including some advanced processing options e.g. 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 arise.  As I said, I was a big NetBeans fan at the start of my career but hen 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 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 Java world, I suggest you to first learn Java by joining a comprehensive course like The Complete Java Masterclass, which is recently updated to cover the latest Java version. 


30 Useful Eclipse Keyboard Shortcuts for Java Programmers

Here is my list of 30 chosen Eclipse IDE keyboard shortcuts for Java developers. It's useful for both core Java developer and Java web application developer 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 which has a complex code, I often need to find classes with the just blink of the 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.

2)Ctrl + Shift + R for finding any resource (file) including config xml files This is similar to 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.
3)Ctrl + 1 for quick fix
This is another beautiful Eclipse shortcut which 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.
4)Ctrl + Shift + o for organize imports Another Eclipse keyboard shortcut for fixing missing imports. Particularly helpful if you copy some code from other file 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
Btw, you would need a Pluralsight membership to access this course, which costs around $29 monthly or $299 annually. I have one and I also suggest all developers have that plan because Pluralsight is like NetFlix for Software developers.

It has more than 5000+ good quality courses on all latest topics. Since we programmers have to learn new things every day, an investment of $299 USD is not bad.


Btw, it also offers a 10-day free trial without any obligation which allows you to watch 200 hours of content. You can watch this course for free by signing for that trial

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. 7) Ctrl + o for quick outline going quickly to a method
9) Alt + right and Alt + left for going back and forth while editing.
12) Alt + Shift + W  to show a class in package explorer
13) Ctrl + Shift + Up and down for navigating from member to member (variables and methods)
15) Ctrl + k and Ctrl + Shift +K for find next/previous
16) 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 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 e.g. 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 is the best place to start with.

Java Eclipse shortcuts and tips

Eclipse Shortcut for Editing Code

These Eclipse shortcuts are very helpful for editing code in Eclipse:
5) Ctrl + / for commenting, uncommenting lines and blocks, see here for live example.
6) Ctrl + Shift + / for commenting, uncommenting lines with block comment, see here for example.
8) Selecting class and pressing F4 to see its Type hierarchy
10) Ctrl + F4 or Ctrl + w for closing current file
11) Ctrl+Shirt+W for closing all files.
14) Ctrl + l go to line
16) Select text and press Ctrl + Shift + F for formatting.
17) Ctrl + F for find, find/replace
18) Ctrl + D to delete a line
19) Ctrl + Q for going to last edited place

You can further see  Eclipse IDE for Beginners: Increase Your Java Productivity to find live examples for most of these shortcuts. It's a free course on Udemy so you don't need to pay anything.

Java debugging shortcuts Eclipse

Miscellaneous Eclipse Shortcuts

These are different Eclipse keyboard shortcuts which doesn’t fit on any category but quite helpful and make life very easy while working in Eclipse. 20) Ctrl + T for toggling between supertype and subtype
21) Go to other open editors: Ctrl + E.
22) Move to one problem (i.e.: error, warning) to the next (or previous) in a file: Ctrl +. For next, and Ctrl +, for the previous problem
23) Hop back and forth through the files you have visited: Alt + and Alt + , respectively.
25) CTRL+Shift+G, which searches the workspace for references to the selected method or variable
26) Ctrl+Shift+L to view the listing for all Eclipse keyboard shortcuts.
27) Alt + Shift + j to add Javadoc at any place in Java source file.
28) CTRL+SHIFT+P to find closing brace. Place the cursor at the opening brace and use this.
29) Alt+Shift+X, Q to run Ant build file using keyboard shortcuts in Eclipse.

30) 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 Pluarlsight. It's not free but cost you around $29 monthly subscription fee but also give you access to more than 5000 courses on Pluralsight on the latest technology, which is totally worth it.

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

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

Useful Eclipse Shortcuts for Java Developers

Related Eclipse tutorials for Java Developers
If you like this tutorial and wants to learn more productivity tips, tricks and new features of Eclipse IDE, then you can also see following guides and tutorials:
How to attach source code of a JAR file in Eclipse? (steps)
How to debug a Java Program in Eclipse IDE? (guide)
How to do the static import in Java Eclipse? (solution)
How to solve Eclipse No Java Virtual Machine found the error? (solution)
How to fix the JAR dependency not working in Eclipse Maven Plugin? (answer)
How to fix Eclipse Not able to connect Internet or Market Place error? (solution)
How do you create JUnit tests in Eclipse IDE? (guide)
Eclipse shortcut for System.out.println() statements (shortcut)
How to escape String literal in a Java file when posted on Eclipse? (solution)
How to compare two files in Eclipse IDE? (guide)
How to increase console buffer size in Eclipse? (solution)
How to make an executable JAR file in Eclipse? (steps)
How to fix Unsupported major.minor version 51.0 error in Eclipse? (solution)
How to fix must override superclass method error in Eclipse? (solution)
How to decompile class file in Eclipse? (solution)
How to set java.library.path in Eclipse IDE? (steps)
Step by Step Guide to Remote Debug a Java Application in Linux (guide)

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