Editor basics
tip
For information about adding and editing code, refer to Work with source code.
Scrollbar
Editor tabs
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From the main menu, select to see what additional actions you can perform with the editor tabs. For example, Close Tabs to the Left or Close Tabs to the Right.
You can use the tab's context menu for the same purpose.
Open or close tabs
To close all opened tabs, select from the main menu.
To close all inactive tabs, press Alt and click
on the active tab. In this case, only the active tab stays open.To close all inactive tabs except the active one and the pinned tabs, right-click any tab and select Close Other Tabs.
To close only the active tab, press Ctrl+F4. You can also click the mouse's wheel button anywhere on a tab to close it.
To reopen the closed tab, right-click any tab, and from the context menu, select Reopen Closed Tab.
To open a new tab at the end of the already opened one, select the Open new tabs at the end in the tab settings.
Copy path or filename
Right-click the tab.
From the list that opens, select Copy Path/Reference.
From the list that opens, select your copy option.
CLion copies the item to the clipboard and you can paste it (Ctrl+V) wherever you need.
Move, remove, or sort tabs
To move or remove the
icon on a tab, in the Settings/Preferences dialog Ctrl+Alt+S, go to and select the appropriate option in the Close button position field.To place the editor tabs in a different part of the editor frame or hide the tabs, right-click a tab and select Configure Editor Tabs to open the Editor Tabs settings. In the Appearance section, in the Tab placement list, select the appropriate option.
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To access the Editor Tabs settings when all tabs are hidden, select from the main menu.
To sort the editor tabs alphabetically, right-click a tab and select Configure Editor Tabs to open the Editor Tabs settings. In the Tab order section, select Sort tabs alphabetically.
Assign a shortcut for the opened tab
In the Settings/Preferences dialog Ctrl+Alt+S, go to .
In the list of directories, click the directory and from the list of tabs, select the one for which you need to add a shortcut. The limit of tabs to which you can assign shortcuts is 9.
Open files in the preview tab
In the Project tool window Alt+1, click
and select the Enable Preview Tab option.You can also enable the preview tab in .
In the Project tool window, select a file that is not already open in any other tab.
The name of the file is written in italic to indicate the preview mode. Any other file that you select will replace the previous one in the preview tab.
Start editing the file to exit the preview mode and change it to a regular tab.
Note that when the preview tab is enabled, the Open Files with Single Click option is ignored. Double-click a file to open it in a regular tab.
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When enabled, preview tab also works during debugging. The files you step through or navigate to using the frames view are opened in a single tab with its name in italic.
Split screen
In the editor, right-click the desired tab and select how you want to split the editor window and move the selected file: Split Right, Split and Move Right, Split Down, Split and Move Down.
CLion creates a split view of the editor and places the file according to your selection.
As an alternative, select similar options from from the main menu.
You can also assign keyboard shortcuts for these actions. Go to and find one of the actions: Split Right, Split and Move Right, Split Down, Split and Move Down. Right-click it, select Add Keyboard Shortcut, and press the key combination you want to use.
You can drag a tab vertically or horizontally in order to split the editor, and drag the tab back to unsplit the screen.
You can open a file in the editor in the right split.
In the Project tool window, right-click a file and select Open in Right Split from the context menu (or press Shift+Enter). CLion will open a file in the split on the right of the editor.
If there are two splits and focus is in the left split, the file will be opened in the existing right split. If the focus is in the right split, the file will be opened in the next right split.
You can move files between split screens. Right-click the needed file tab in the editor and from the context menu select Move To Opposite Group or Open In Opposite Group.
You can close all the open tool windows at once and thus enlarge the split screens. Place the cursor in an editor tab and press Ctrl+Shift+F12 or just double-click the tab. CLion hides all the open tool windows so all the space is shared by split screens.
To unsplit the screen, from the context menu, select Unsplit or Unsplit All to unsplit all the split frames.
Quick popups
Description | Action/Access | Good to know |
|---|---|---|
View quick definition of a symbol (tag, class, method/function, field, and so on.) | Ctrl+Shift+I | CLion displays the information in a popup. If you need, click the |
View quick documentation for a code element or a file. | Ctrl+Q | CLion displays a popup with the appropriate information. You can press Ctrl+Q twice to open the popup in the Documentation tool window. (Press same shortcut to switch back to the popup). If you need to change the font size of the text displayed in the popup window, click the For code elements you can also view an external documentation while in the quick documentation popup. Click If you invoke the quick documentation popup when you look for a class Ctrl+N, you can look up the documentation on any class displayed in the list. To switch focus to the popup, press the same shortcut. |
View the context information. | Alt+Q | The action shows the current method or class declaration when it is not visible. |
View a description of the error or warning at the caret. | Ctrl+F1 | Click the code analysis marker to see the list of found errors. Use F2 or Shift+F2 to navigate to next or previous error. |
Copy tooltip text to the clipboard. | Hold Alt (on Linux, hold Ctrl+Alt) and click the tooltip | |
View all usages for code element. | Ctrl+Shift+F7 | To control the usages highlighting, select or clear the Highlight usages on element at caret option, in (the Highlight on Caret Movement area). If you turn on the Power Save mode (), the usages are not highlighted. |
icon to open the 
icon and in the window that opens, change the font size according to your preferences.
or press Shift+F1.Useful editor configurations
