Eclipse FAQ

First, make sure you are in the Java perspective: in the top right corner of the window, click the Open Perspective toolbar button and select Java.

If your Java perspective doesn’t look right, go to Window → Reset Perspective to return to the Eclipse defaults.

Command-click (on Mac) or control-click to jump straight to the definition of a variable, field, method, class, etc.

Return to the previous file you were working on with Navigate → Back, which might have keyboard shortcut Alt–left-arrow or Command - [. Eclipse’s Navigate Back and Forward are analogous to the back and forward buttons in your web browser.

Command- (or control-) -shift-R and command-shift-T bring up a dialog for quickly searching for and navigating to files (a.k.a. resources) and types (classes), respectively.

Select an element and use Refactor → Rename (or its keyboard shortcut) to rename that variable, field, method, class, etc. wherever it appears.

Take advantage of code completion to help you use a new API: if you have an object squiggle, typing the name and then a period will bring up code completion options.

Use Source → Organize Imports or Command- (or Control-) -Shift-O to automatically add and organize Java import statements. Just start using a new class, Organize Imports, and you’re good to go.

Don’t like formatting and indenting your code manually? Use Source → Format to clean up your act.

After you complete Configure Eclipse, Source → Format will change any tabs you have lying around into spaces. You can right-click the package to de-tab all of your classes at once.

Use Source → Toggle Comment or keyboard shortcut Command - / to quickly toggle on or off some lines of code.

Use block selection to edit across multiple lines at once.