File templates

File templates are specifications of the default contents for new files that you create. Depending on the type of file you are creating, templates provide initial code and formatting expected in all files of that type (according to industry or language standards, your corporate policy, or for other reasons).

CLion provides predefined templates for all supported file types suggested when you create a new file. The set of suggested file types depends on the module and configuration, as well as the properties of your current location in the Project tool window. For example, CLion will not suggest creating a C++ file outside of the C++ source or test directories.

To manage and configure file templates, open the Editor | File and Code Templates page of the IDE settings Ctrl+Alt+S.

This settings page can be configured for one of the two scopes, Default or Project, which you can select in the Scheme drop-down.

• The Default scope controls templates that apply to the entire workspace in any project. They are stored in the IDE configuration directory under fileTemplates.

• The Project scope controls templates that apply only to the current project. They are stored in the project folder under .idea/fileTemplates. These templates can be shared among team members.

By default, the list of templates contains only predefined templates provided by CLion. Some of them are internal, which means they cannot be deleted or renamed. The names of internal templates are shown in bold. The names of templates that you modified, as well as custom templates that you created manually, are shown in blue.

CLion uses several types of templates, separated into the following tabs:

• The Files tab contains file templates for creating new files.

• The Includes tab contains pieces of reusable content for inserting into file templates (for example, if a specific header applies to multiple file templates).

• The Code tab contains internal templates for code fragments (snippets) used by CLion to generate various constructs. You can edit the available snippets on this tab, but you cannot create new ones.

  To create custom code snippets, use Live templates.

The following procedures describe how to create file templates. Similar procedures can be used for creating include templates.