MPS 2023.3 Help

Write and edit source code

When you work with code, MPS ensures that your work is stress-free. It offers various shortcuts and features to help you add, select, copy, move, edit, fold, find occurrences, and save code.

Find action

  • If you do not remember a shortcut for the action you want to use, press Ctrl+Shift+A to find any action by name.

Transpose characters

  1. In the editor, place the caret at the characters you want to swap.

  2. Go to Edit | Transpose.

    There is no default shortcut for this action. You can assign a custom shortcut.

Lines of code

MPS offers several useful shortcuts for manipulating code lines.

  • To add a line after the current one, press Shift+Enter. MPS moves the caret to the next line.

  • To add a line before the current one, press Ctrl+Alt+Enter. MPS moves the caret to the previous line.

  • To duplicate a line, press Ctrl+D.

  • To sort lines alphabetically in the whole file or in a code selection, go to Edit | Sort Lines or Edit | Reverse Lines. These actions might be helpful when you work with property files, data sets, text files, log files, and so on. If you need to assign shortcuts to those actions, refer to Configure keyboard shortcuts for more information.

  • To delete a line, place the caret at the line you need and press Ctrl+Y.

  • To split string literals into two parts, press Enter.

    MPS splits the string and provides the correct syntax. You can also use the Break string on '\n' intention to split string literals. Press Alt+Enter or click the Intention action button to select this intention.

  • To comment a line of code, place the caret at the appropriate line and press Ctrl+/. Press Ctrl+/ again on the same line to uncomment it.

Copy and paste code

You can use the standard shortcuts to copy Ctrl+C and paste Ctrl+V any selected code fragment. If nothing is selected, MPS automatically copies as is the whole line where the caret is located.

By default, when you paste anything in the editor, MPS performs "smart" paste, for example, pasting multiple lines in comments will automatically add the appropriate markers to the lines you are pasting. If you need to paste just plain text, press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+V.

  • When you copy (Ctrl+C) or cut (Ctrl+X) a line without any code selected, the paste action will add the contents of the clipboard to above the current line, not at your caret.

    If you want to paste your copied code at the caret, select the Paste at the caret position option in the advanced settings.

  • Place the caret at a line or a symbol, right-click to open the context menu, select Copy/Paste Special | Copy Reference. When you select the Copy Reference (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+C) option, MPS creates a reference string that includes the line number of the selected line or symbol. You can press Ctrl+V to paste the copied reference anywhere.

  • MPS keeps track of everything you copy to the clipboard. To paste from history, in the editor, from the context menu, select Copy/Paste Special | Paste from History (Ctrl+Shift+V). In the dialog that opens, select your entry and click Paste.

  • When you copy and paste code to the editor, MPS displays the hidden (special) characters represented by their Unicode name abbreviation.

Code statements

Move statements

  • In the editor, place the caret at the needed statement and press Ctrl+Shift+Up to move a statement up or Ctrl+Shift+Down to move a statement down. MPS moves the selected statement performing a syntax check.

Complete current statement

  • In the editor, press Ctrl+Shift+Enter or from the main menu select Code | Complete Current Statement. MPS inserts the required trailing comma automatically in structs, slices, and other composite literals. The caret is moved to the position where you can start typing the next statement.

Code fragments

  • Move and copy code fragments by dragging them in the editor.

    • To move a code fragment, select it and drag the selection to the target location.

    • To copy a code selection, keeping Ctrl pressed, drag it to the target location.

  • To toggle between the upper and lower case for the selected code fragment, press Ctrl+Shift+U.

    Note that when you apply the toggle case action to the CamelCase name format, MPS converts the name to the lower case.

Code folding

Folded code fragments are shown as shaded ellipses (Folded fragment

). If a folded code fragment contains errors, MPS highlights the fragment in red.

Expand or collapse code elements

  • To fold or unfold a code fragment, press Ctrl+NumPad -/Ctrl+NumPad +. MPS folds or unfolds the current code fragment, for example, a single method.

  • To collapse or expand all code fragments, press Ctrl+Shift+NumPad -/Ctrl+Shift+NumPad +.

    MPS collapses or expands all fragments within the selection, or, if nothing is selected, all fragments in the current file, for example, all methods in a file.

  • To fold blocks of code, press Ctrl+Shift+.. This action collapses the code fragment between the matched pair of curly braces {}, creates a custom folding region for that fragment, and makes it "foldable".

  • To collapse or expand a custom code fragment, select it and press Ctrl+..

    You can fold or unfold any manually selected regions in code.

Fold or unfold nested fragments

  • To expand the current fragment and all the nested fragments, press Ctrl+NumPad *, 1. You can expand the current fragment up to the specified nesting level (from 1 to 5).

  • To expand all the collapsed fragments in the file, press Ctrl+Shift+NumPad *, 1. You can expand the collapsed fragments up to the specified nesting level (from 1 to 5).

Use the Surround With action

You can collapse or expand code using the Surround With action.

  1. In the editor, select a code fragment and press Ctrl+Alt+T.

  2. From the popup menu, select <editor-fold...> Comments or region...endregion Comments.

  3. Optionally, specify a description under which the collapsed fragment will be hidden.

  4. To collapse or expand the created region, press Ctrl+..

  5. To navigate to the created custom region, press Ctrl+Alt+..

Disable code folding outline

You can hide the code folding arrow icons that appear in the gutter.

  1. In the Settings dialog (Ctrl+Alt+S) , go to Editor | General | Code Folding.

  2. Clear the Show code folding arrows checkbox.

Last modified: 07 March 2024