WebStorm 2021.1 Help

File nesting dialog

This dialog opens when you click File Nesting on the context menu of the title bar in the Project tool window.

Use this dialog to configure presentation of files with the same names but different suffixes.

Such bunches of files may appear in framework-specific projects, for example, if you use Angular:

Angular application: a bunch of app files with various extensions

Also consider compilation of TypeScript into JavaScript with source maps generated:

A typescript file leftpad.ts with a compiled JavaScript file leftpad.js
                 and a generated source map file leftpad.js.map shown at the same level

WebStorm can present such file bunches as plain structures or show parent files as folders (nests) with their child files inside. To configure file nesting, set correspondence between the suffixes of parent files and the suffixes of the child files.

WebStorm provides a set of predefined rules. You can edit these rules as well as define your own custom ones.

ItemShortcutDescription
Show files with the same names as nested
  • When the checkbox is selected, WebStorm recognizes child files based on the patterns from the list and shows them grouped under the corresponding parents. Compare the presentation of the above TypeScript example with file nesting enabled:

    A typescript file leftpad.ts with a compiled JavaScript file leftpad.js
                             and a generated source map file leftpad.js.map shown as a nest

  • When the checkbox is cleared, WebStorm shows parents and children at the same level.

the Add buttonAlt+InsertClick this button to add a new row and specify the "parent" file suffix and the matching "child" file suffix.
the Remove buttonAlt+DeleteClick this button to remove the selected rule from the list.
Reset to DefaultClick this button to discard all your custom patterns and reload the default rules.
Last modified: 08 March 2021