How can I indent multiple lines in Xcode?

Question

When I select multiple lines of code and want to indent them as usual with TAB key, it just deletes them all. I come from Eclipse where I always did it that way. How's that done in Xcode? I hope not line by line ;)

Answer 1

The keyboard shortcuts are ⌘+] for indent and ⌘+[ for un-indent.

• In Xcode's preferences window, click the Key Bindings toolbar button. The Key Bindings section is where you customize keyboard shortcuts.

Answer 2

Select your code to reindent, then Go to

Editor -> Structure -> Re-Indent

Answer 3

⌘ + [ and ⌘ + ] are the equivalents to shift+tab in Xcode.

Answer 4

Here are the shortcuts, to format the code in XCode

1. Format entire code (entire class/controller)

   Select the entire code and press control+I on mac to format your code.

2. Format particular block of code

   Select the code and press:

   • ⌘+] for right move (indent)
   • ⌘+[ for left move (un-indent)

Note: as per @JavierGiovannini sugesstion you can do using Editor Menu option

3. Select your code and navigate to Editor > Structure > Re-Indent

Answer 5

First, select all code using command+a

Second, hold key ctr and then press i

the whole selected code will nicely indent.

Answer 6

Another way to quickly reformat indenting is a quick cut and paste. ⌘+x and ⌘+v. I often find it faster than ⌘+[ or ⌘+] as you can do it with one hand (versus two) and it will reformat to the correct indent level in one shot.

Answer 7

If you use synergy (to share one keyboard for two PCs) and PC(MAC) in which you are using xcode is slave, and master PC is Windows PC

keyboard shortcuts are alt+] for indent and alt+[ for un-indent.

Update:

But from synergy version 1.5 working ⌘+[ for indent and ⌘+] for un-indent

Answer 8

In Xcode 9, you can finally use Tab and Shift+Tab to indent multiple lines of code. Yay!

Answer 9

Shortcut key:

ctrl + i

NOTE: Please select codes to Re-indent and press 'control' and 'i' on your mac.

Answer 10

Select "Tab key: Indents always" in Preferences->Text Editing->Indentation Then you can indent a single line or a selection of lines by pressing TAB or SHIFT+TAB Sadly this removes altogether the possibility to insert tabs where you want, and conflict badly with the tab key being used to switch between "autocompletion fields".

I guess we need more tab keys in the keyboard, one is not enough...

Answer 11

To all frenchs Xcoders around, the default keybindings are as follow :

Indent selection:

⇧ + ⌘ + ⌥ + )

Unindent selection:

⇧ + ⌘ + ⌥ + (

Answer 12

For those of you with Spanish keyboard on mac this are the shortcuts:

⌘ + ⌥ + [ for un-indent

⌘ + ⌥ + ] for indent

Answer 13

here all the important shortcuts from another question answered on stack overflow

Answer 14

If you want to remap the standard Xcode's ⌘+[ to TAB, you can do the following:

1. Install a program called "Karabiner".

2. Go to Preferences ~> "Misc and Uninstall"

3. In "Custom Setting" section click on the "Open private.xml" button

4. Open the file and replace its content with the following code:

   <?xml version="1.0"?> 
   <root>
       <item>
           <name>Tab instead of Command+[</name>
           <identifier>private.swap_tab_and_cmnd+[</identifier>
           <autogen>
               __KeyToKey__
               KeyCode::TAB, ModifierFlag::NONE,
               KeyCode::BRACKET_RIGHT, ModifierFlag::COMMAND_L | ModifierFlag::NONE
           </autogen>
       </item> 
   </root>
   

5. Go to Preferences ~> "Change Key" ~> click on "Reload XML" button

6. Put a tick in the checkbox which is called "Tab instead of Command+["

7. Enjoy

PS: Please note that this setting works globally on your machine, not just in Xcode. However, I am sure that google might help you to find a solution how to customize it even further, applying the changes only to Xcode.

Answer 15

Danish Keyboard

Unindent: ⌘ + ⌥ + 8

Indent: ⌘ + ⌥ + 9

Answer 16

Basically ⌘ [ for left multiple indent and ⌘ ] right multiple indent.

For TR keyboard you can left multiple indent with ⌘ ⎇ 8 and right multiple indent with ⌘ ⎇ 9.Because both 8 and 9 are ALT characters of the these nums.Or if you have a keyboard which has [ or ] characters are belong to ALT(⎇) property so you can use ⌘ ⎇ KEYBOARD CHARACTER

Answer 17

Since I didn't see an update to this question for the current version of Xcode, I thought I'd add that in Xcode 9.3, Tab works for indenting selected line(s) of text as well as moving from one autocomplete field to another.

Answer 18

For code indentation first select the lines of code then press:

command + alt + [

command + alt + ]

Answer 19

In Xcode 4.2 auto-indenting is pretty good. You can now indent a selection of code by pressing the Tab key. I find that Xcode generally formats code really well automatically, and you rarely have to move things around yourself. I find it faster to select a piece of code, right-click and choose Structure -> Re-indent if some code looks messy.

Answer 20

Tab for Indent SHIFT + Tab Re-indent