How do I enable the column selection mode in Eclipse?

Question

News wrote that Eclipse 3.5 finally supports column selection. Unfortunately I don't know HOW to enable it. I tried pressing the ALT-key like I am used to in Visual Studio and all other Microsoft products but that had no effect.

How can I mark a vertical block in Eclipse?

score 508 · Accepted Answer · edited May 18 '18 at 13:12

508

To activate the cursor and select the columns you want to select use:

Windows: Alt+Shift+A

Mac: command + option + A

Linux-based OS: Alt+Shift+A

To deactivate, press the keys again.

This information was taken from DJ's Java Blog.

edited May 18 '18 at 13:12

Leos313

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answered Jun 27 '09 at 22:08

RichieHindle

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I see, it is a whole "mode" that needs to be enabled. – vobject Jun 27 '09 at 23:29
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alt+shift+a dnw for me on osx – erikvold Feb 02 '11 at 02:21
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alt+shift+a is not working in my eclipse. how to enable it from the eclipse? – Yog Guru Dec 30 '11 at 09:53
I think it's an Eclipse 3 or 3.5 feature? – StackOverflowed Apr 06 '12 at 12:41
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This is not working for me in Android Developer Tools Build: v22.0.5-757759 edit: Look down Android devs! – fIwJlxSzApHEZIl Oct 21 '13 at 22:08
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For Eclipse Kepler on Mavericks its `command` + `option` + `A` – Fydo Mar 30 '14 at 20:41
Ohh.. it works.. but it feels so primitive compared to Textmate, Sublime, Atom.... – gdelfino Feb 13 '15 at 09:07
If it doesn't work for you, try to start marking text normally and while the selection is there, click the alt-shift-a – thedrs Feb 19 '15 at 14:49
In my Eclipse it works for .java files but not for .md files... I guess it's not in the generoc Structured Text Editor but only in some of the more specific editors... Beats me why, seems to me column editing is a generic option. – Stijn de Witt May 27 '15 at 13:09
A little off topic but if you were an eclipse editor developer, what library or functions would you use to implement this feature (i.e., pressing Alt + Shift + A simultaneously switches the mouse cursor to "block select")? – Minh Tran Mar 14 '18 at 19:28

Geoffrey Wiseman · Answer 2 · 2014-11-13T16:42:44.637

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On Windows and Linux, it's AltShiftA, as RichieHindle pointed out. On OSX it's OptionCommandA (⌘⌥A). It's also worth noting that the two modes can have different font preferences, so if you've changed the default text font, it can be jarring to toggle block selection modes and see the font change.

Finally, the "search commands" (Ctrl3 or Command3) pop-up will find it for you if you type block. This is useful if you use the feature just frequently enough to forget the hotkey.

edited Nov 13 '14 at 16:42

answered Aug 06 '10 at 18:15

Geoffrey Wiseman

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To modify the font in this selection mode: Eclipse -> Preferences -> General -> Appearance -> Colors and Fonts -> Basic -> Text Editor Block Selection Font. – John Oct 17 '13 at 09:08
Is there a way to enable column mode select when looking in the console or JUnit console view? Alt-Shift-A only works in the source code editing window / view. – JasonRobinson Jan 26 '17 at 00:20
I don't see any way to enable block selection in the console -- you could copy the content out to an Eclipse buffer and then select there. – Geoffrey Wiseman Jan 26 '17 at 17:14

score 66 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:10

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As RichieHindle pointed out the shortcut for column (block) selection is Alt+Shift+A. The problem I ran into is that the Android SDK on Eclipse uses 3 shortcuts that all start with Alt+Shift+A, so if you type that, you'll be given a choice of continuing with D, S, or R.

To solve this I redefined the column selection as Alt+Shift+A,A (Alt, Shift, A pressed together and then followed by a subsequent A). To do this go to Windows > Preferences then type keys or navigate to General > Keys. Under the Keys enter the filter text of block selection to quickly find the shortcut listing for toggle block selection. Here you can adjust the shortcut for column selection as you wish.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:10

Community

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answered Oct 22 '11 at 20:29

Peter Ajtai

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it's a very useful information for Android developers. thank you. – Emir Akaydın Jun 01 '12 at 08:24
That was easy. Great utility for all Android devs. Thank you! – Kyle Clegg Jun 22 '12 at 06:47
Especially nice to put the instructions here... I was searching for `toggle block selection` in the Keys entry already, but I had no idea what the name was... – Timo Oct 23 '12 at 20:42
I wish there was a way to get rid of the anoying android als+shift+a choices :( and no I don't have the android plugin installed as far as I can tell) – AmanicA Aug 15 '13 at 10:41
I unbound all the other ALT+Shift+A commands and toggle block selection isn't working as a hotkey currently. EDIT: Restarting ADT fixed the hotkey issue. Alt+Shift+A is working fine now. – fIwJlxSzApHEZIl Oct 21 '13 at 22:14
@AmanicA You can easily unbind the Android plugin's shortcuts from the above-mentioned Keys dialog. However, if you don't have the Android plugin installed, then you don't have its shortcuts either. – JMTyler Dec 02 '13 at 18:02

score 28 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 02 '15 at 08:42

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First of all your mouse key must be focus in editor to enable Toggle Block Selection Mode

enter image description here

Click on toggleButton as shown in figure and it will enable Vertical selection. After selection toggle it again.

answered Feb 02 '15 at 08:42

Zar E Ahmer

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This works on ADT, also it shows that the shortcut is **Alt+Shift+A** but that doesn't work. – Rombus Mar 23 '15 at 13:33
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Thanks for the screenshot. The keyboard shortcuts listed here assume the shortcut actually works. Since that is non-visual, pointing to the button is a great reference. Plus, the button indicates its shortcut key with a tool-tip. In this case, the ALT+SHIFT+A solution, which does not work in the Android Developer Tools v22.0.1-685705. – CrazyIvan1974 Jun 04 '15 at 16:15
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This option is also available under Edit >> Toggle Block Selection. – Jim Fell Apr 22 '21 at 14:36

score 15 · Answer 5 · answered Jun 27 '09 at 22:15

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Additionally, you can change the keys view window -> preferences then type: 'keys' and when the key preference page opens you can type 'toggle block selection' and voila!

answered Jun 27 '09 at 22:15

javamonkey79

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Thanks for the info. I am new to the Eclipse IDE and only knew the "Key-Assist" window. – vobject Jun 27 '09 at 23:27

score 10 · Answer 6 · answered Aug 16 '11 at 05:30

You can enable and disable column editing mode via the keyboard shortcut ALT-SHIFT-A.

Once enabled you can then use either the mouse to select a block of text, or the keyboard using SHIFT (like a normal keyboard select, except the selection will now be in a block).

If you've changed your default font for text editing, entering column editing mode will probably change your screen font to the default column editing font (which is probably different to your changed font. To change the font when in column editing mode, go to the menu and select Window -> Preferences, then in the tree on the left hand side, pick General -> Appearance -> Colors and Fonts, and then pick Basic -> Text Editor Block Selection Font on the right hand side tree. You can then select the font to be consistent with your "not in column editing mode" font.

score 8 · Answer 7 · answered Dec 08 '13 at 05:44

A different approach:

The vrapper plugin emulates vim inside the Eclipse editor. One of its features is visual block mode which works fine inside Eclipse.

It is by default mapped to Ctrl-V which interferes with the paste command in Eclipse. You can either remap the visual block mode to a different shortcut, or remap the paste command to a different key. I chose the latter: remapped the paste command to Ctrl-Shift-V to match my terminal's behavior.

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Jan 03 '20 at 08:48

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Press Alt + Shift + A
Observe that the screen zooms out
Make selection using the mouse
Press Alt + Shift + A to go back to the old mode.

answered Jan 03 '20 at 08:48

S Krishna

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How do I enable the column selection mode in Eclipse?

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