Write and edit source code
Source code navigation
File structure

File structure

Last modified: 30 May 2024

The Structure tool window: View | Tool Windows | Structure or Alt07

The Structure popup: Navigate | File Structure or CtrlF12

IntelliJ IDEA allows you to view and navigate the structure of a file in the Structure tool window and the Structure popup.

Structure popup

Structure tool window

You can see the VCS status colors in the Structure tool window and the Structure popup if your project is under version control. It helps you track changes in files. The names of modified objects become blue, and the names of the newly added objects appear highlighted in green.

Hover over icons in Structure to get additional information in tooltips about the items. For example, you can learn whether methods are static.

Structure popup

The popup provides less information than the tool window, but it allows you to navigate the structure faster due to the Narrow down on typing option.

Open a file in the editor and press CtrlF12, or go to Navigate | File Structure in the main menu.
In the popup, start typing the name of the element that you want to find. The IDE will narrow down the search results as you type.
You can also use CamelHumps, that is, for example, you can type dsu to match DoSomethingUseful.
You can additionally narrow down your search results by using the checkboxes in the popup. To change the sorting, click and select the necessary option.
Press Enter or click an item to close the popup and navigate to the selected element in the editor.

Inherited members: Displays all methods and fields inherited by the current class and accessible from it. The inherited members are displayed gray to distinguish them from the members defined in the current class.
Anonymous Classes: Displays inner anonymous classes in the tree view.
Lambdas: Displays all lambdas in the tree.

Alphabetically: Sorts elements within a class alphabetically.
By Visibility: Sorts items by their visibility in the following order: public - protected - package local - private.
Narrow down on typing: Hides irrelevant items as you type. When this option is disabled, the IDE highlights all items that match your search query without hiding irrelevant items.

Structure tool window

Open a file in the editor or select it in the Project tool window.
Press Alt07 or go to View | Tool Windows | Structure in the main menu.
In the tool window, start typing the name of the element that you want to find. You can also use CamelHumps. The IDE will highlight the search results as you type.
You can additionally narrow down your search results or sort the items in the tool window by using the options located under .

View options

Sort

Alphabetically: Sorts elements within a class alphabetically.
By Visibility: Sorts the items by their visibility in the following order: public - protected - package local - private.

tip
When both options are enabled, the items in the view are grouped according to their visibility levels. Within each visibility level group, the items are sorted alphabetically. When both options are disabled, the items are shown in the order they appear in the code.

Show

Anonymous Classes

Displays inner anonymous classes in the tree view.

Fields

Displays all fields (properties) in the tree.

Inherited

Displays all methods and fields inherited by the current class and accessible from it. The inherited members are displayed gray to distinguish them from the members defined in the current class.

Lambdas

Displays all lambdas in the tree.

Non-public

Displays all non-public class members.

Turn the option off to hide all non-public members.

HTML Outline

(Only for HTML files) Displays HTML 5 outline of an HTML file

DDL statements

(Only for SQL files) Displays only DDL statements (for example, CREATE, ALTER, DROP, and other statements).

DML statements

(Only for SQL files) Displays only DML statements (for example, SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, and other statements).

Select statements

(Only for SQL files) Displays only SELECT statements.

Other

(Only for SQL files) Displays only statements that do not fall under the previous categories.

Group

Methods by Defining Type: Groups all methods that override or implement the methods of a particular class or interface under the node that corresponds to this class or interface.
Properties: Displays getters, setters, and fields in the tree.
Group by type: (Only for SQL files) Group statements by their type (for example, DDL statements, DML statements, SELECT statements, and Other).

Run code from the Structure tool window

The Structure tool window allows you to run and debug your code.

Right-click a runnable method in the Structure tool window and select Run 'method name' (CtrlShiftF10) or Debug 'method name' ().

Run tests from Structure

In the Structure tool window, you can select one or several test methods in a class to run. In this case, the IDE also creates a temporary run configuration with these methods that you can save and edit.

In the Structure tool window, right-click one or several test methods and select Run 'method name' (CtrlShiftF10).
The tool window allows you to add test methods to an existing run configuration (for JUnit and TestNG tests) in which the test scope is specified by means of a pattern. You can add methods from several different classes creating a test suite.
Right-click a method in the Structure tool window and select:
- Add to temp suite: <Configuration_name> if there is only one configuration with the Pattern test scope.
- Add to JUnit Pattern Suite (JUnit) / Add to Temp Suite (TestNG) if there are several configurations with the Pattern test scope. In this case, a popup appears in which you can select the target configuration.

Group members

In Java, you can group class members in Structure by annotating them in your source code.

In the editor, select a code fragment and press CtrlAlt0T or go to Code | Surround With in the main menu. Select the necessary folding region comment, region or editor-fold.
The IDE inserts the comments around the selected code. Learn more from Surround code fragments.
The Structure tool window and Structure popup mark these regions with .

Show members in the Project tool window

In the Project tool window Alt01, click in the title bar and select Tree Appearance | Show Members.

Thanks for your feedback!

Was this page helpful?

File structure﻿

Structure popup﻿

Structure tool window﻿

View options﻿

Sort﻿

tip

Show﻿

Group﻿

Run code from the Structure tool window﻿

Run tests from Structure﻿

Group members﻿

Show members in the Project tool window﻿

File structure

Structure popup

Structure tool window

View options

Sort

Show

Group

Run code from the Structure tool window

Run tests from Structure

Group members

Show members in the Project tool window