How can I show line numbers in Eclipse?

Question

How can I show line numbers by default in Eclipse?

What do you mean, "by default"? For each new workspace? For each new install of eclipse? I'm confused. — Ryan Emerle, Mar 12 '09 at 23:32
@Uri: Ehm, so that when you get an error message thrown at you by the compiler you can quickly find the line by scanning the document with your eyes. — X-Istence, Mar 13 '09 at 05:35
@X-lstence ctrl-l will bring up a pop up box where you can enter a line number to jump to — jklp, Jul 15 '09 at 03:51
Still I find it much faster when using a tool like lint to scroll to each line when there are multiple errors and having a way to show line numbers is invaluable. Also when taking screenshots it can be nice to see the original line numbers for discussion purposes. — Tod, Apr 11 '12 at 18:56
Big News! (reported by Lars VOGEL): starting 4.4M4, line numbers are activated *by default*! See [my (edited) answer below](http://stackoverflow.com/a/641540/6309) — VonC, Dec 11 '13 at 15:05

score 1112 · Answer 1 · edited Apr 19 '20 at 18:02

1112

Window → Preferences → General → Editors → Text Editors → Show line numbers.

Edit: I wrote this long ago but as @ArtOfWarfar and @voidstate mentioned you can now simply:

Right click the gutter and select "Show Line Numbers":

edited Apr 19 '20 at 18:02

Arsen Khachaturyan

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answered Mar 12 '09 at 23:38

fbernier

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Thanks! I'm using the Juno release and eventually found it under eclipse -> preference -> general -> editors -> text editors -> show line numbers. – Doug English Jul 29 '12 at 03:57
In Eclipse for Mac, it's not in Window->Preferences but in Eclipse->Preferences – Marcel Marino Dec 09 '13 at 19:57
@CJDennis Or you can just type "line" or even "line number" in the search bar of the preferences. That's something they did do right. Besides that it *is* in a logical location. – Maarten Bodewes Jul 23 '17 at 08:30

score 483 · Answer 2 · edited Apr 11 '12 at 19:47

483

If this doesn't work it may be overridden by your current settings. You can right-click in the bar to the left of the code where line numbers would normally appear and turn them on with the context menu.

Screen showing this context menu

edited Apr 11 '12 at 19:47

Tod

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answered Mar 22 '12 at 10:43

voidstate

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score 95 · Answer 3 · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

Update November 2015:

In Eclipse Mars 4.5.1, line numbers are (annoyingly) turned off by default again. Follow the below instructions to enable it.

Update December 2013:

Lars Vogel just published on his blog:

Line numbers are default in Eclipse SDK Luna (4.4) as of today

(December 10, 2013)

We conducted a user survey if users want to have line numbers activated in text editors in the Eclipse IDE by default.
The response was very clear:

YES : 80.07% (1852 responses)
NO  : 19.93% (461 responses)
Total  : 2313
Skipped:   15

With Bug 421313, Review - Line number should be activated by default, we enabled it for the Eclipse SDK build, I assume other Eclipse packages will follow.

Update August 2014

Line number default length is now 120 (instead of 80) for Eclipse Mars 4.5M1.
See "How to customize Eclipse's text editor code formating".

Original answer (March 2009)

To really have it by default, you can write a script which ensure, before launching eclipse, that:
[workspace]\.metadata\.plugins\org.eclipse.core.runtime\.settings\org.eclipse.ui.editors.prefs does contain:

lineNumberRuler=true

(with [workspace] being the root directory of your eclipse workspace)
Then eclipse will be opened with "line numbers shown 'by default' "

Otherwise, you can also type 'CTRL+1' and then "line", which will give you access to the command "Show line numbers"
(that will switch to option "show line numbers" in the text editors part of the option.

Or you can just type "numb" in Windows Preferences to access to the Text Editor part:

show line number

^{Picture from "How to display line numbers in Eclipse" of blog "Mkyong.com"}

On the current Eclipse Mars version (4.5.1), line numbers are not enabled by default (annoyingly). — AStopher, Nov 14 '15 at 12:34
How can I set left indent spacing, to add some space between line number and the first character of each line? — Ωmega, Oct 04 '19 at 13:05
@Ωmega 10 years later, I don't know. that would be space or padding between the gutter and the code editor. — VonC, Oct 04 '19 at 13:12

score 30 · Answer 4 · edited Jan 11 '16 at 08:37

30

As simple as that. Ctrl+F10, then N, to Show or hide line numbers.

Reference : http://www.shortcutworld.com/en/win/Eclipse.html

edited Jan 11 '16 at 08:37

ROMANIA_engineer

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answered Dec 18 '14 at 04:50

shaby

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One need to have focus in the Editor for that shortcut to work, but that is pretty obvious if one reads the section title in the referred article. :-) – Björn Larsson Sep 27 '18 at 10:24

score 25 · Answer 5 · edited Nov 11 '13 at 10:24

25

Slight variation on Mac OSX:
Eclipse → Preferences → General → Editors → Text Editors → Show line numbers

edited Nov 11 '13 at 10:24

AlvaroCachoperro

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answered Mar 02 '13 at 00:34

crsierra

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HANU · Answer 6 · 2013-10-09T09:35:08.293

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Windows → Preferences → General → Text Editors → Show numberlines

edited Oct 09 '13 at 09:35

answered May 17 '13 at 09:02

HANU

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score 19 · Answer 7 · edited Aug 30 '12 at 09:38

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Go to Windows → Preferences → General → Text Editors → Show numberlines. Click OK, then Apply changes. Then it will show the line count automatically.

edited Aug 30 '12 at 09:38

ЯegDwight

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answered Aug 30 '12 at 07:03

bhejaFry

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score 19 · Answer 8 · answered Mar 01 '12 at 21:34

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in this file

[workspace].metadata.plugins\org.eclipse.core.runtime.settings\org.eclipse.ui.editors.prefs

make sure the parameter

lineNumberColor=0,0,0

is NOT 255,255, 255, which is white

answered Mar 01 '12 at 21:34

Antonio Leite

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Does that mean you can have different colors of line numbers? Interesting. I will try that sometime soon. – Greeso Jan 11 '13 at 11:32

score 9 · Answer 9 · answered Jul 10 '14 at 07:01

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one of the easy way is using shortcuts like : Ctrl+F10, then press n "it show line number and hide line numbers.

answered Jul 10 '14 at 07:01

Arul Pandian

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score 7 · Answer 10 · answered Sep 17 '13 at 12:19

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The top answer is good but you can also bind it to a key ( shorcut ) to toggle it..

Window > Preferences > Keys then enter "Line Numbers" in filter and bind it to a key.

I use CTRL + S + L.

answered Sep 17 '13 at 12:19

DevC

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score 7 · Answer 11 · answered Jul 13 '17 at 05:49

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Open Eclipse

goto -> Windows -> Preferences -> Editor -> Text Editors -> Show Line No

Tick the Show Line No checkbox

answered Jul 13 '17 at 05:49

Ujjwal Roy

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score 4 · Answer 12 · answered Jun 22 '15 at 12:03

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click on window tab and click on preferences

click on window tab

do this and check show line number

check show line number

answered Jun 22 '15 at 12:03

Adiii

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score 3 · Answer 13 · answered Oct 14 '13 at 12:23

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the eclipse changes the perferences's position

to eclipse -> perferences

answered Oct 14 '13 at 12:23

user1144651

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score 3 · Answer 14 · answered Jul 09 '14 at 10:34

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On a Mac do this:

cmd + , or ADT -> Preferences

Expand General -> Editors ->Text Editors

Check box: Show line numbers

enter image description here

answered Jul 09 '14 at 10:34

Mike Zriel

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score 2 · Answer 15 · answered Mar 21 '16 at 14:59

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Eclipse has a search feature in the top left box of the Preferences. Type in 'line numbers' in that search box, and presto...

In case you're tired of googling each time you forget...

answered Mar 21 '16 at 14:59

wizurd

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score 1 · Answer 16 · answered Oct 16 '12 at 05:39

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this will be the appropriate solution for asked question:

String lineNumbers = AbstractDecoratedTextEditorPreferenceConstants.EDITOR_LINE_NUMBER_RULER; EditorsUI.getPreferenceStore().setValue(lineNumbers, true);

answered Oct 16 '12 at 05:39

RTA

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How can I show line numbers in Eclipse?

16 Answers16

In Eclipse Mars 4.5.1, line numbers are (annoyingly) turned off by default again. Follow the below instructions to enable it.

Line numbers are default in Eclipse SDK Luna (4.4) as of today

Linked