CLion 2021.1 Help

Quick documentation

Quick Documentation popup is a universal tool to help you get more information on a code element at caret. CLion shows quick documentation in a popup on mouseover automatically. Depending on the element you invoke it for, the popup can include:

  • Function signature details.

  • Code documentation (either regular or Doxygen comments).

  • Inferred types, which is especially valuable for modern C++ that might lack explicit types. For example:

    C++ inferred type in Quick Documentation popup

  • Macro replacements to help you better understand and debug nested macros (like Boost.Test or Catch macros). In the popup, you will see the final macro replacement properly formatted, with highlighted strings and keywords:

    Formatted macro expansion in Quick Documentation popup

Disable quick documentation on mouseover

  • In the Settings/Preferences dialog Ctrl+Alt+S, go to Editor | Code Editing | Quick Documentation and clear the Show quick documentation on mouse move checkbox.

    You can also click Icons actions more in the popup and disable the Show on Mouse Move option.

In this case, to view documentation for a symbol at caret, press Ctrl+Q or click View | Quick Documentation from the main menu.

Click Icons actions more in the popup to change the font size, display the quick documentation toolbar, or go to the source code. Press Ctrl+Q to switch between the popup and the tool window.

Last modified: 01 July 2021