How to format code in Xcode?

Question

I wonder how can I format my code to align it neatly? Does it have a feature similar to Eclipse's ctrlshiftf?

I have gathered all available options as in Feb 2021 in this post: https://stackoverflow.com/a/66270147/2049623 — Keval Langalia, Feb 19 '21 at 00:30

score 742 · Accepted Answer · edited Nov 30 '20 at 19:54

742

Select first the text you want to format and then press Ctrl+I.

Use Cmd+A first if you wish to format all text in the selected file.

Note: this procedure only re-indents the lines, it does not do any advanced formatting.

In XCode 12 beta:

The new key binding to re-indent is control+I.

edited Nov 30 '20 at 19:54

TheKojuEffect

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answered Oct 19 '11 at 21:23

Piotr Kochański

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Thanks for this! Quick question though, do you recall where you can edit the templates that Xcode uses for its formatting? In Xcode 3 I had customized mine a bit, but I can't find the bookmark I had that said how to do it, and, the technique is probably different now. – Josh Jan 12 '12 at 20:49
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it doesn't format code. it just reindents lines. Just like the menu item says. It doesn't take care of adding or removing extra spaces between various symbols – Radu Simionescu May 24 '16 at 08:08
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I think it is i, Ctrl+i, not Ctrl+L – govo Oct 21 '19 at 08:03
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Yeah, still no advanced formatting (Feb 2020)... looks like a lot of people (myself included) came to Xcode from a more engineering-oriented IDE. I personally find that Xcode is missing a lot of productivity/navigation/auto-complete features I really got used to in Eclipse/IntelliJ products... to me it feels like an Apple notepad app compared to IDEA :/ – milosmns Feb 22 '20 at 18:44
There is a solution! The solution is to use a Automation-Script. Check out this Tutorial for a detailed step-by-step instruction. https://luisramos.dev/xcode-format-and-save – LP Square Feb 08 '22 at 17:34
-1, as this is NOT a full code formatting, it is just very bad re-indentation - look into the IntelliJ Idea / Android Studio for what actually is the code formatting... – Jiří Křivánek Aug 06 '23 at 08:43

score 111 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 07 '13 at 14:33

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Key combination to format all text on open file:

Cmd ⌘ A + Ctrl I

answered Jun 07 '13 at 14:33

J. Costa

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score 30 · Answer 3 · edited Oct 15 '19 at 02:23

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Select the block of code that you want indented.
Right-click (or, on Mac, Ctrl-click).
Structure → Re-indent

edited Oct 15 '19 at 02:23

Cody Gray - on strike

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answered Jul 01 '11 at 02:32

Dair

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score 20 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 03 '13 at 22:12

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I would suggest taking a look JetBrains AppCode IDE. It has a Reformat Code command. I have come from a C# background and used Visual Studio with Jetbrains Resharper plugin, so learning AppCode has been a pleasure because many of the features in Resharper also exist in AppCode!

Theres too many features to list here but could well be worth checking out

answered Jan 03 '13 at 22:12

superlogical

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Good tip but doesn't really answer the question. – Mulperi May 26 '18 at 08:43
Unfortunately, AppCode sunsetted. – TuralAsgar Apr 30 '23 at 13:59

How to format code in Xcode?

4 Answers4

In XCode 12 beta:

Linked