10 Best Eclipse Shortcuts
Yes, eclipse is a very visual and GUI oriented IDE. But this does not mean that everything is mouse oriented. While programming I have my hands on the keyboard. So I want to do as much as possible with shortcuts and the keyboard. The good news is that eclipse comes with a great set of helpers built-in. Here is my list of my favorite hotkeys and shortcuts…
- F3 — Jumps to include file or variable declaration/definition. If you want to use the mouse for this, press the Ctrl key and hover over the source with the mouse. Shortcut for Navigate > Open Declaration.
- Alt+Left and Alt+Right — Navigate through my source to back and forward. Shortcuts for Navigate > Back and Navigate > Forward and Backward.
- Ctrl+Space — Content assist which proposes methods/member variables and more based on my typing. Start typing with a. and it will show me the struct members. Shortcut for Edit > Content Assist:
CTRL+Space: Content Assist
- Ctrl+3 — Quick Access let me go to views, perspectives and more. Shortcut for Window > Navigation > Quick Access:
CTRL+3: Quick Access
- Ctrl+M — Maximizes the current view or editor. Press Ctrl+M again and it goes back to the previous size. Shortcut for Window > Navigation > Maximize Active View or Editor.
- Ctrl+Shift+/ — Insert block comment, remove it again with Ctrl+Shift+\. Shortcut for Source > Add Block Comment. Depending on your keyboard layout you might re-assign this short cut (e.g. if on your keyboard ‘/’ is only reached with the Shift key).
- Ctrl+Shift+T — Open an element with wildcard support. Shortcut for Navigate > Open Element:
Ctrl+Shift+T: Open Element
- Ctrl+F7— Switch to next view. Pressing again
Ctrl+F7 let you iterate to the next view. Use Ctrl+Shift+F7 for previous
view. Shortcut for Window > Navigation > Next View:
Ctrl-F7: Views
- Ctrl+Alt+h — Opens the call hierarchy. Shortcut for Navigate > Open Call Hierarchy:
Ctrl+Alt+h: Call Hierarchy
- Ctrl-O — Open the Quick Outline View. Shortcut for Navigate > Quick Outline:
Ctrl+O: Quick Outline View
If you do not like the shortcuts (or key bindings): go to Window > Preferences > General > Keys and change the bindings:
Key Bindings
I admit: this is my personal list. If you know about a ‘secret’ shortcut which you would like to see on this list, post a comment.
Happy short cutting 
(Note: Opinions expressed in this article and its replies are the opinions of their respective authors and not those of DZone, Inc.)
Comments
Vivek Singh replied on Mon, 2012/04/30 - 12:41pm
Ashish Pathak replied on Mon, 2012/04/30 - 1:17pm
Ctrl+Shift+G - Search for References in the workspace
Ctrl+D - Delete Current line
Alt+Shift+R - Rename/Refactor variable/method/class
Ctrl+Shift+R - Open resource, you can type the name and open appropriate object
Alt+Shift+J - Add javadoc comments for the method
Andrew Spencer replied on Wed, 2012/05/02 - 3:50am
It's worth knowing all the refactoring shortcuts.
For Java:
Rick Suggs replied on Thu, 2012/05/03 - 1:10pm
My favorite shortcuts for Java are:
Ctrl+Shift+O - Organize Imports
Ctrl+Shift+I - Inspect Element
Rod Knowlton replied on Sat, 2012/05/05 - 1:17pm
Ctrl-Shift-L to show all keyboard shortcuts available in the current context.
Also, it's really handy to have a key bound to Windows->Preferences->General->Keys (I use Alt-,).
Alex Martínez replied on Mon, 2012/05/07 - 7:41am
Ctrl + 1
Quick fix. Create a variable, rename it, add import,...