# Definition and type definition

The Quick Definition popup shows you where and how a project symbol (class, method/function, field, etc) is defined:

![Quick definition popup](https://resources.jetbrains.com/help/img/idea/2026.2/cl_quickdef.png)

Procedure: View definition of a symbol at caret

* Place the caret at a symbol in the editor and press `Ctrl+Shift+I` (Windows), `⌥ Space` (macOS), `⌘ ⇧ I` (IntelliJ IDEA Classic (macOS)), `⌘ Y` (macOS System Shortcuts), `Ctrl+Shift+I` (XWin), `Ctrl+Shift+I` (GNOME), `Ctrl+Shift+I` (KDE), `Ctrl+Shift+I` (Emacs), `Ctrl+Shift+I` (Sublime Text), `⌥ Space` (Sublime Text (macOS)), `⌃ F1` (Xcode), `Alt+F12` (Visual Studio), `⌥ Space` (Visual Studio (macOS)), `Ctrl+Shift+I` (ReSharper), `⌥ Space` (ReSharper (macOS)), `Ctrl+Shift+I` (QtCreator), `Ctrl+Shift+I` (QtCreator (macOS)), `Ctrl+Shift+I` (NetBeans), `Ctrl+Shift+I` (Eclipse), `⌥ Space` (Eclipse (macOS)) (or click `View | Quick Definition` in the main menu). You can also   press `Ctrl+Shift+A` (Windows), `⌘ ⇧ A` (macOS), `⌘ ⇧ A` (IntelliJ IDEA Classic (macOS)), `⌘ ⇧ P` (macOS System Shortcuts), `Ctrl+Shift+A` (XWin), `Ctrl+Shift+A` (GNOME), `Ctrl+Shift+A` (KDE), `Escape, X` (Emacs), `Ctrl+Shift+P` (Sublime Text), `⌘ ⇧ P` (Sublime Text (macOS)), `⌘ ⇧ A` (Xcode), `Ctrl+Shift+A` (Visual Studio), `⌘ ⇧ A` (Visual Studio (macOS)), `Ctrl+Shift+A` (ReSharper), `⌘ ⇧ A` (ReSharper (macOS)), `Ctrl+Shift+A` (QtCreator), `⌘ ⇧ A` (QtCreator (macOS)), `Ctrl+I` (NetBeans), `Ctrl+Shift+A` (Eclipse), `⌘ 3` (Eclipse (macOS)), start typing `Quick Definition` , then select the action from the list.

* Alternatively, with the `Ctrl` (Windows), `Ctrl` (macOS), `Ctrl` (IntelliJ IDEA Classic (macOS)), `Ctrl` (macOS System Shortcuts), `Ctrl` (XWin), `Ctrl` (GNOME), `Ctrl` (KDE), `Ctrl` (Emacs), `Ctrl` (Sublime Text), `Ctrl` (Sublime Text (macOS)), `Ctrl` (Xcode), `Ctrl` (Visual Studio), `Ctrl` (Visual Studio (macOS)), `Ctrl` (ReSharper), `Ctrl` (ReSharper (macOS)), `Ctrl` (QtCreator), `Ctrl` (QtCreator (macOS)), `Ctrl` (NetBeans), `Ctrl` (Eclipse), `Ctrl` (Eclipse (macOS)) key pressed, hover over any symbol. CLion displays the symbol as a link and shows its definition in a tooltip. Click this link to jump to the definition of the symbol.

You can open a definition in the Find tool window. To do so, click the ![Options](https://resources.jetbrains.com/help/img/idea/2026.2/app.actions.more.svg) icon in the top-right corner of the popup and click ![Open in Find tool window](https://resources.jetbrains.com/help/img/idea/2026.2/app.actions.moveToBottomLeft.svg) Open in Find Tool Window.

To open the source code of the definition for editing and close the popup, click the ![Options](https://resources.jetbrains.com/help/img/idea/2026.2/app-client.expui.general.moreVertical.svg) icon and then click ![Edit](https://resources.jetbrains.com/help/img/idea/2026.2/app.expui.general.edit.svg) Edit Source (`F4` (Windows), `⌘ ↓` (macOS), `F4` (IntelliJ IDEA Classic (macOS)), `F4` (macOS System Shortcuts), `F4` (XWin), `F4` (GNOME), `F4` (KDE), `F4` (Emacs), `F4` (Sublime Text), `F4` (Sublime Text (macOS)), `⌘ ↓` (Xcode), `F4` (Visual Studio), `⌘ ↓` (Visual Studio (macOS)), `F4` (ReSharper), `⌘ ↓` (ReSharper (macOS)), `F4` (QtCreator), `F4` (QtCreator (macOS)), `F4` (NetBeans), `F12` (Eclipse), `F3` (Eclipse (macOS))).

![Quick definition popup options](https://resources.jetbrains.com/help/img/idea/2026.2/cl_quickdef_options.png)

## See also

### Procedures

### Reference