IntelliJ IDEA 2023.3 Help

Groovy

The Groovy plugin is bundled with IntelliJ IDEA and enabled by default.

IntelliJ IDEA supports the latest stable version of Groovy and Groovy 4 syntax.

User interface

The user interface for Groovy looks similar to a regular one. However, it includes the Groovy console that you can open from the main menu (Tools | Groovy Console).

User interface for Groovy

The most interesting part of the user interface is the IntelliJ IDEA Editor since it lets you invoke almost any IDE feature without leaving it, which helps you organize a layout where you have more screen space because auxiliary controls like toolbars and windows are hidden.

Accessing a tool window via its shortcut moves the input focus to it, so you can use all keyboard commands in its context. When you need to go back to the editor, press Escape.

Below is a list of shortcuts that invoke the tool windows you will most often need:

Tool Window

Shortcut

Project

Alt+1

Version Control

Alt+9

Run

Alt+4

Debug

Alt+5

Terminal

Alt+F12

Editor

Escape

When you want to focus on the code, try the Distraction Free Mode. It removes all toolbars, tool windows, and editor tabs. To switch to this mode, go to View | Appearance | Enter Distraction Free Mode in the main menu.

An alternative to Distraction Free Mode may be hiding all tool windows by pressing Ctrl+Shift+F12. You can restore the layout to its default by pressing this shortcut once again.

The Navigation Bar is a compact alternative to the Project tool window. To access the Navigation Bar, press Alt+Home.

Navigation bar

Most components in IntelliJ IDEA (both tool windows and popups) provide speed search. This feature allows you to filter a list, or navigate to a particular item by using a search query.

Speed search

For more information, refer to User interface, Editor basics, and Tool windows.

Editor basics

A work in the editor is standard for Groovy as for any other languages with all the shortcuts offered by IntelliJ IDEA.

Check the following most useful editor shortcuts:

Action

Description

Move the current line of code

Ctrl+Shift+Up Ctrl+Shift+Down

Duplicate a line of code

Ctrl+D

Remove a line of code

Ctrl+Y

Comment or uncomment a line of code

Ctrl+/

Comment a block of code

Ctrl+Shift+/

Find in the currently opened file

Ctrl+F

Find and replace in the current file

Ctrl+R

Next occurrence

F3

Previous occurrence

Shift+F3

Navigate between opened tabs

Alt+Right Alt+Left

Navigate back/forward

Ctrl+Alt+Left Ctrl+Alt+Right

Expand or collapse a code block in the editor

Ctrl+NumPad + Ctrl+NumPad -

Generate

Alt+Insert

Surround with

Ctrl+Alt+T

Highlight usages of a symbol

Ctrl+F7

To expand a selection based on grammar, press Ctrl+W. To shrink it, press Ctrl+Shift+W.

IntelliJ IDEA can select more than one piece of code at a time. You can select next occurrence via Alt+J and deselect by pressing Alt+Shift+J. You can even select all occurrences at once, by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Shift+J.

For more information, refer to Editor basics.

With IntelliJ IDEA you don't need to save code changes every time since you can undo refactorings and revert changes from Local History.

Groovy code style and formatting

IntelliJ IDEA automatically applies a code style you've configured in the Groovy code style settings as you edit.

Groovy code style settings

Check the following formatting shortcuts:

Action

Shortcut

Reformat code

Ctrl+Alt+L

Auto-indent lines

Ctrl+Alt+I

Optimize imports

Ctrl+Alt+O

Note that by default, IntelliJ IDEA uses regular spaces for indents instead of tabs. If you have files with lots of indents, you may want to optimize their size by enabling the Use tab character option located in Settings | Editor | Code Style | Groovy.

For more information, refer to Reformatting Source Code.

Last modified: 15 March 2024