Smart Keys

Last modified: 08 March 2021

Settings/Preferences | Editor | General | Smart Keys

Use this page to enable or disable specific smart keys and to define which actions you want to be invoked automatically.

ItemDescription
Home moves caret to first non-whitespace characterWhen this checkbox is selected, on pressing Home, the caret is positioned at the first non-whitespace character of the current line. Pressing Home subsequently moves the caret from the Smart Home position to the first column and back.
End on blank line moves caret to indent positionWhen this checkbox is selected, on pressing End in an empty line, the caret is positioned with the indent, which PyCharm assumes to be reasonable in the current code point (indentation is based on the current Code Style Settings).
Insert pair brackets (), [], {}, <>Select this checkbox to have PyCharm automatically add a closing bracket for each typed opening bracket, respectively.
Insert pair quote

Select this checkbox to have PyCharm automatically add a closing single or double quote for each typed opening single or double quote, respectively. See page Create documentation comments

tip

  • Type opening triple quotes, and press Enter, or Space.

    • Reformat block on typing "}"If this checkbox is selected, then, on typing the closing curly brace, the enclosed code block is reformatted automatically, if the formatting of this code block does not match the selected code style.
    Use 'CamelHumps' words

    Select this checkbox to have PyCharm discern separate words within CamelHump names. Words within a name should start with a capital letter or an underscore. This option impacts some editor actions, for example:

    • Caret Move Ctrl+Right/ Ctrl+Left

    • Caret Move with Selection(Ctrl+Shift+Right/ Ctrl+Shift+Left)

    • Select Word at Caret Ctrl+W

    • Delete to Word Start/End(Ctrl+Backspace and Ctrl+Delete respectively)

    • Double-clicking (if Honor "CamelHumps" word settings when selecting using double click is enabled).

    Honor "CamelHumps" word settings when selecting using double-click

    Select this checkbox to have PyCharm invoke the CamelHumps selection when words are selected by double-clicking.

    This feature works only if the Use 'CamelHumps' words option is enabled.

    Surround selection on typing quote or braceIf this checkbox is selected, the selected text on typing a quote, double-quote or brace, will be surrounded with these characters. If this checkbox is not selected, then the typed quotes, double-quotes or braces will replace the selection.
    Add multiple carets on double Ctrl with arrow keys

    If this checkbox is selected, then:

    • pressing Ctrl plus up/down arrow keys leads to creating multiple carets.

    • pressing Ctrl plus left/right arrow keys or Home/End leads to creating a selection.

    For more information, see the Multicursor section.

    Jump outside closing bracket/quote with Tab when typing

    If this checkbox is selected, pressing Tab when typing inside brackets/quotes will move the caret outside the closing bracket/quote. If this checkbox is not selected, pressing Tab will insert the Tab character.

    Note that this only works on initial typing: during subsequent editing, pressing Tab inside brackets/quotes will insert the Tab character.

    Enter

    Use this area to define the actions to be invoked by pressing Enter.

    • Smart indent: select this checkbox to have PyCharm add a new line and position the caret at it, with the indent that PyCharm assumes to be reasonable in the current point of code (indentation is based on the current Code Style settings).

      If the checkbox is cleared, upon pressing Enter in a blank line, PyCharm adds a new line and positions the caret at the current non-space character column.

    • Insert pair '}': select this checkbox to have PyCharm automatically position a closing brace } at the proper column when Enter is pressed in an empty line. In this case PyCharm seeks backward for the nearest unclosed opening brace { and places the closing one at the corresponding indentation level.

    • Insert documentation comment stub: this checkbox defines the behavior on pressing Enter after the opening documentation comment. This functionality works only for JavaScript, Java, Groovy, and Swift.

      • If this checkbox is selected, PyCharm generates a documentation comment stub.

        For the function comments, this stub contains the required tags (@param tags for each parameter declared in the signature, and @return). Refer to Create documentation comments, JSDoc comments for details.

      • If this checkbox is not selected, only the closing part of the comment is generated.

      warning

      Note that this checkbox refers to JavaScript and other languages that have special beginning of documentation comments.

      This checkbox does not refer to Python.

    Unindent on Backspace

    Use this list to define the actions to be invoked by pressing Backspace key. The available options are:

    • Disabled: pressing Backspace returns the caret by one position at a time.

    • To nearest indent position
    • To proper indentation
    Reformat on paste

    Use this list to specify how to place pasted code blocks. The available options are:

    • None: the pasted code is inserted at the caret location as plain text without any reformatting or indenting.

    • Indent Block: the pasted code block is positioned at the proper indentation level, according to the current Code Style Settings, but its inner structure is not changed.

    • Indent Each Line: each line of the pasted code block is positioned at the proper indentation level, according to the current Code Style Settings.

    • Reformat Block: the pasted code block is reformatted according to the current Code Style Settings.

    tip

    This feature is applicable to lines that contain the trailing line feed characters.

    Kotlin

    Use this area to configure the smart keys options for Kotlin.

    • Convert pasted Java code to Kotlin: select this option to convert any Java code to Kotlin on paste. PyCharm displays the Convert Code from Java dialog. If you don't want PyCharm to show the dialog, select the Don't show Java to Kotlin conversion dialog on paste option.

    Smart indent pasted linesIf this checkbox is selected, the pasted lines are indented relative to the current caret location. Otherwise, the pasted lines are indented relative to the first column.
    Insert backslash when pressing Enter inside the statementIf this checkbox is selected, the continuation character will be inserted automatically on pressing Enter, preserving the correct syntax.
    If this checkbox is not selected, the line will be broken, and syntax error will be reported by on-the-fly code inspection.
    Insert 'self' when defining a method

    If this checkbox is selected, the self parameter is inserted automatically after typing the opening brace, together with the closing brace and colon.

    If this checkbox is cleared, only closing brace is generated automatically.

    When necessary, use the suggested quick-fix to insert self:

    Py self
    Insert type placeholders in the documentation comment stub

    If this checkbox is selected, then the placeholders for parameters, types and return types will be generated:

    """

:param a:
:type a:
:return:
:rtype:
"""

    If this checkbox is not selected, then only the placeholders for parameters and return will be generated:

    """

:param a:
:return:
"""
    Insert 'type' and 'rtype' to the documentation comment stubIf this checkbox is selected, the documentation comment stub will contain type tag for each parameter, and rtype tag for the return statement.
    Auto-insert closing }} and %} in Django templatesIf this checkbox is selected, the closing characters will be automatically inserted after typing the opening ones.
    AngularJS

    Use this area to define the behavior of AngularJS:

    • Auto-insert white space in the interpolation: If this checkbox is selected, a white space is automatically inserted between the braces: {{ }}.
      If this checkbox is not selected, the white space is not inserted: {{}}.

    HTML/CSS

    Use this page to configure the editor behavior for HTML, XML, and CSS.

    ItemDescription
    XML/HTML

    In this area, define the actions to be invoked automatically when editing XML or HTML code.

    • Insert closing tag on tag completion: select this checkbox to have PyCharm automatically insert a closing XML or HTML tag upon entering the corresponding opening one.

    • Insert required attributes on tag completion: select this checkbox to have PyCharm display a template with all mandatory attributes of the typed tag.

    • Insert required subtags on tag completion: select this checkbox to have PyCharm display a template with all mandatory subtags.

    • Start attribute on tag completion: select this checkbox to have PyCharm display a template with the first mandatory attribute of the typed tag.

    • Add quotes for attribute value on typing '=': select this checkbox to have PyCharm automatically add quotes for the value of the attribute that you are currently typing.

    • Auto-close tag on typing '</': select this checkbox to automatically add a closing tag after entering </. Clear this checkbox to turn off such auto-completion.

    • Simultaneous <tag></tag> editing: When this checkbox is selected and you edit an opening tag the corresponding closing tag is automatically changed accordingly.

      If this checkbox is cleared, editing the opening tag does not affect the closing tag which remains unchanged. As a result, the opening and closing tags do not match and the entire construct is underlined as erroneous.

      The Simultaneous <tag></tag> editing checkbox controls the behaviour of PyCharm in the following contexts:

      • HTML files

      • HTML injections within JavaScript code

      • HTML with Handlebars/Mustache templates

      • Handlebars/Mustache template files with the extension .hbs

      • XML, XHTML files

      • DTD files

      • JSX files

    CSS

    In this area, define the selection of CSS identifiers/classes:

    • Select whole CSS identifier on double-click: if this checkbox is selected, double-click a CSS identifier or class name selects the entire name up to the prefix:

      Select whole CSS identifier on double-click: ON

      If this checkbox is not selected, double-click a CSS identifier or class name selects a portion of a name up to the nearest hyphens:

      Select whole CSS identifier on double-click: OFF

    JSON

    Use this page to configure the editor behavior for JSON.

    ItemDescription
    JSON

    The settings in this area control automatic adding of commas, quotes, and whitespaces in JSON context in compliance with the JSON syntax.

    JavaScriptProfessional

    Use this page to configure the editor behavior for JavaScript.

    ItemDescription
    Start template string interpolation on typing '$'Select this checkbox to insert expressions with normal strings after the $ sign. See Expression interpolation for details.
    Escape text on paste in string literals

    By default, PyCharm automatically inserts backslash escape symbols (\) when you paste text into a JavaScript string. Clear the checkbox to suppress automatic text escaping.

    Convert attributes when pasting HTML to JSX files

    By default, when you copy a piece of HTML code with class attributes or on-event handlers and paste it into JSX, PyCharm automatically replaces these attributes with React-specific ones (className, onClick, onChange, and so on.)

    To copy HTML code to JSX "as is", clear the checkbox or use Paste Simple Ctrl+Alt+Shift+V.

    SQLProfessional

    Use this page to configure the eiditor behavior for SQL.

    ItemDescription
    Insert string concatenation on Enter

    You may want to turn this option off, if the DBMS you are working with supports multiline string literals:

    Say, there is the following fragment for PostgreSQL text value notes:

    SET notes = 'Lightest element'

    and the cursor is in front of the word element.

    If the option is on, and you press Enter, the fragment will change to:

    SET notes = 'Lightest ' ||
            'element'

    Otherwise, the fragment will change to:

    SET notes = 'Lightest
element'

    Close code blocks on Enter

    When you start a code block with an opening keyword (BEGIN, LOOP, BEGIN TRY, and others) and press Enter, the code block closes with the corresponding closing keywords (END, END LOOP, END TRY, and others).

    https://resources.jetbrains.com/help/img/idea/2021.1/db_close_code_blocks_on_enter.png
    Gif
    Qualify object on code completion

    The selected option defines how the name of an object is inserted in the editor when using the code completion suggestion box.

    • Always: the qualified object names are always used, for example <schema_name>.<object_name>.

    • On collisions: the qualified object name is used only if the short name is ambiguous, for example when there is the object with the same name in more than one schema.

    • Never: the unqualified object names are always used.

    Yaml

    Use this page to configure the editor behavior for Yaml.

    ItemDescription
    Auto expand key sequences upon pasteWith this option selected, PyCharm properly formats key sequences when you paste them from the clipboard. For example, the key2.anoher_key sequence pasted from the clipboard will be displayed with the correct hierarchy.
    Yaml key sequence

    Python

    Use this page to configure the behavior of the editor in the Python context.

    ItemDescription
    Smart indent pasted linesWith this option selected (by default), PyCharm respects the PEP8 indent when you insert a code fragment.
    Smart indent pasted lines
    Insert backslash when pressing Enter inside the statementWith this option selected (by default), PyCharm adds \ to keep integrity of the statement when you press Enter and split it.
    Insert backslash when pressing Enter inside the statement
    Insert 'self' when defining a methodWith this option selected (by default), PyCharm adds self to the method declaration.
    Insert 'self' when defining a method
    Insert type placeholders in the documentation comment stub.With this option selected, PyCharm creates a placeholder to enter the type in the documentation comments. The placeholder is added for all docstring formats but Plain.
    Insert type placeholders in the documentation comment stub

    See also

    Procedures