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10 Easy Ways of Navigation in Eclipse

Are you among those who have to wade through countless lines and files to find what you are looking for? Java development is hard, however there are plenty of tools to make your life easier, says Ray Djajadinata, technical advisor and software architect.

"Any resource in the workspace is literally seconds away. Ditto to classes...thousands of Eclipse JDT users who never bother to read tech blogs in all probability will also never bother to find out what Eclipse can do for them. And it’s a pity, really," says Djajadinata, as he lists 10 Eclipse navigation short cuts that every Java programmer should know.

Ctrl + Shift + R: To open any file quickly without browsing for it in the Package Explorer. It opens a dialog box that accepts the name of the file you’re looking for. It even accepts wildcard characters.
Ctrl + Shift + T: To open a type (e.g.: a class, an interface) without clicking through interminable list of packages, if what you want is a Java type.
Ctrl + O: To go directly to a member (method, variable) of a huge class file, especially when a lot of methods are named similarly. This gives you a list of candidates that match what you’ve typed so far. Select the member you want using the arrow keys, and press Enter.
Ctrl + L, enter line number: To go to line number N in the source file, if them stack trace is in a log file.
Ctrl + Q: To go to the last edit location. Very handy in a big file, says Djajadinata, this short cut brings you to where you last edited a file, even when you are looking at a different file.
Ctrl + T: To go to a supertype/subtype.
Ctrl + E: To go to other open editors. This is easier than Ctrl + F6, as the latter requires you to keep the Ctrl key down, instead you can just press Ctrl + E, and either use the arrow buttons, or type the name of the file you’re editing, he adds.
Ctrl + ./Ctrl + ,: To Move to one problem (i.e.: error, warning) to the next or previous in a file
Alt + ← and Alt + →: To hop back and forth through the files you have visited
F3: To go to a type declaration. Alternatively, says Ray, you can hold Ctrl down and click the hyperlinked variable or class or whatever it is the declaration of which you want to see.

As a final tip, he adds that all the shortcuts can be found by just going to Help → Help Contents → Java Development User Guide → Reference → Menus and Actions in Eclipse.

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