JetBrains Rider 2021.1 Help

Navigate Current Context

JetBrains Rider provides a number of features that help you navigate your code based on the current context, that is according to the opened document and your caret position inside it.

Move caret in the current document

CommandHow to invokeUse it to
Move Caret to Previous Word
Move Caret to Next Word
Ctrl+Left
Ctrl+Right

Move the caret to the beginning/end of the current word, and then further word by word in the same direction.

If Use CamelHumps is selected on the Editor | General | Typing Assistance page of the IDE settings Ctrl+Alt+S, the caret will move to the next/previous capitalized word inside identifiers with CamelCase names.

Note that by default, on Ctrl+Right the caret jumps to the end of the current word. This behavior is configurable in the Caret Movement section on the Editor | General settings page.

Move Caret to Line Start
Move Caret to Line End
Home
End
Move the caret to the first/last character on the current line.
Go to Containing DeclarationAlt+Shift+[Move the caret to the declaration of a type or a function from any position within its body.
Move Caret to Matching BraceCtrl+Shift+MWhen the caret is right before or after a brace or a bracket, jump to the brace or bracket that matches it.
Move Caret to Code Block Start
Move Caret to Code Block End
Ctrl+[
Ctrl+]
Move the caret to the opening/closing brace of the enclosing code block.
Next Method
Previous Method
Alt+Down
Alt+Up
Move the caret to the declaration of the next/previous member in the current type.
Move Caret to Page Top
Move Caret to Page Bottom
Ctrl+Page Up
Ctrl+Page Down
Move the caret to the top/bottom line of the currently visible editor area, without scrolling.
Page Up
Page Down
Page Up
Page Down
Move the caret up/down to the current height of the editor area and scroll the document accordingly, and then further with the same step in the same direction.
Move Caret to Text Start
Move Caret to Text End
Ctrl+Home
Ctrl+End
Move the caret to first/last character in the current document.

With JetBrains Rider, you can navigate the structure of the current document using the Structure window, which greatly simplifies navigation in large files. The window is synchronized with the editor: as you switch to another editor tab, the window displays the structure of the corresponding file. To navigate through the file easily, preprocessor directives are hidden by default.

  1. Press Alt+7 or choose View | Tools Windows | Structure.

  2. Contents of the current document appear in a tree structure, that you can explore and navigate through the document. You can double-click any symbol to make the caret in the editor switch to the corresponding position.

  3. If some parts of the code are surrounded by #region blocks, the regions appear in the file structure too.

  4. To synchronize the way you change caret position in the editor with the symbol highlighted in the File Structure window, click Always Select Opened Element Always Select Opened Element on the toolbar.

  5. To synchronize symbols that you select in the File Structure window with the caret position in the editor, click Navigate with Single Click Navigate with Single Click on the toolbar.

Right from the Structure window, you can access even more actions. To check the available commands, you can right-click any symbol.

JetBrains Rider: File Structure view

Use editor breadcrumbs

Editor breadcrumbs help you quickly understand where your caret is with regard to the structure of the current document as well as navigate that structure. With editor breadcrumbs enabled, you will always see the path from the root code element to the current caret position right in the editor.

JetBrains Rider: Editor breadcrumbs

To jump to a parent element in the source code, click the breadcrumb with its name. If you click the namespace element in a C#/VB.NET file, you will be able to navigate to all the files where this namespace is used.

By default breadcrumbs are shown at the bottom of the editor. To display them at the top or hide them altogether, right-click the breadcrumb bar and choose Breadcrumbs | Top or Breadcrumbs | Don't show.

You can also do that as well as configure in which languages and with which colors editor breadcrumbs should be displayed on the Editor | General | Breadcrumbs page of the IDE settings Ctrl+Alt+S.

View code outside of the editor frame

You can hover the mouse over the scrollbar to view source code above or below the currently visible area:

JetBrains Rider: Viewing code outside of the editor frame

You can disable this behavior by clearing the Show code lens on scrollbar hover checkbox on the Editor | General | Appearance page of JetBrains Rider settings Ctrl+Alt+S.

With a single shortcut, you can jump in the editor to the declaration of a type or a function from any position within its body.

  1. Set the caret into any position within the body of a type or a function.

  2. Press Alt+Shift+[.

  3. JetBrains Rider will set the caret to the declaration of the type or function.

  4. If the type or function is declared within another type, you can repeat step two to navigate to the declaration of the containing type.

With the Next/Previous Member commands, you can quickly navigate between members and nested types in code files or between tags in markup files.

  1. When your focus is in the editor, press Alt+Down/ Alt+Up or choose Navigate | Next/Previous Member in the main menu.

  2. The caret will move to the declaration of the next/previous member/tag. If there are inner types, the caret will also stop at each inner type's member.

You can switch between files opened in the editor, split editor tabs, and tool windows (docked or floating) similarly to your OS application switcher. The switcher brings up a popup consisting of two columns: the left one displays tool windows, the right one editor tabs. If no files are currently opened, or there is just one tab, the switcher shows recently opened files:

JetBrains Rider: Switcher popup
  1. Press Ctrl+Tab and then keeping the first key pressed (Ctrl on Windows/Linux or on macOS), use the following keys:

    • Left and Right to switch between the lists of tool windows and files.

    • Up and Down arrow keys, Tab or Shift+Tab to go up and down the list in both panes.

    • Delete or Backspace to close the editor tab where the selected file is opened and remove the selected file from the list.

  2. Release the Ctrl/ key. The corresponding file or tool window gets the focus, and the switcher popup disappears.

Locate current item in other views

When you select a file, type, member, or other code item in the editor or one of the tool windows, you can quickly locate it in another IDE component.

  1. Press Alt+F1 or select Navigate | Select In from the main menu. The Select Target popup shows up.

  2. Use the arrow keys or the mouse pointer to select the desired component. If your target is the Solution window, you can select the desired view:

    JetBrains Rider: Select Target popup

Locate current document in Solution/Assembly Explorer

This handy navigation feature lets you expand the tree in the Solution Explorer, auto-scroll and highlight the item corresponding to the current document. It is especially useful when you have a massive solution, or a limited screen area that forces you to shrink the Solution Explorer window to the limit.

  1. Press Alt+Shift+L.

  2. JetBrains Rider will bring up the Solution Explorer window to focus and show you the item there.


The Go to Line command lets you quickly jump to any line of code in the current document.

To go to a specific line in any other file, use the Go To File command (Ctrl+Shift+N), type : (colon) after the target file name, and specify the line number after that.

  1. Press Ctrl+G or choose Navigate | Line/Column from the menu.

  2. Type the target line number and optionally, a column number after a colon :, and then click OK.

Last modified: 30 July 2021