Make Visual Studio understand CamelCase when hitting Ctrl and cursor keys

Question

Is there a way that I can configure Visual Studio 2008 to understand CamelCase? Specifically, I'd like to be able to get Ctrl + right or left cursor to take me to a subsection of a variable or type name.

i.e., if my cursor was at the start of this line:

LongNamedExampleClass longNamed = new LongNamedExampleClass();

and I hit Ctrl + right, I'd like to jump to "Named" in the class name, rather than the start of the variable name. If I hit it again, I'd like to go to "Example". I hope that makes sense.

I used this navigational feature in Eclipse quite a lot, and find it difficult to unlearn something so ingrained.

[Resharper](http://www.jetbrains.com/resharper/features/index.html) supports that feature. — Petter Wigle, Nov 24 '08 at 13:23
[Resharper](http://www.jetbrains.com/resharper/index.html) does that. I suppose you could write your own addin to do the same. — open-collar, Nov 24 '08 at 13:28

score 140 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 17 '21 at 18:08

140

Thanks to those who suggested Resharper. This gives me another reason to love it even more. Just to be specific about where this lives - JetBrains call it CamelHumps (cute) and you can switch it on using the menu:

Resharper -> Options -> Environment -> Editor -> Editor Behavior -> Use CamelHumps

... in older versions of Resharper, it is;

Resharper -> Options -> Editor -> Use CamelHumps

edited Jun 17 '21 at 18:08

Melanie Palen

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answered Nov 25 '08 at 10:26

serg10

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Is there an option, to select the whole word, even if CameHumps is on? At the moment I have to press right or left several times to select a word. I hope you get me. – Ozkan Oct 07 '16 at 14:01
To quickly select the whole word while CamelHumps is on, press the [Extend Selection shortcut key](https://www.jetbrains.com/help/resharper/Coding_Assistance__Extend_Shrink_Selection.html) twice (`Ctrl`+`Alt`+`Right` or `Ctrl`+`W`). – Pang Jul 14 '20 at 02:57
Not only select the whole word but jumping across the whole word too? – AbbasAli Hashemian Oct 03 '20 at 05:57
This is the correct solution for ctrl+[arrow]. However, there are two resharper commands - Resharper_TextControlPreviousWord and Resharper_TextControlNextWord so that you can bind different shortcuts to do the same camel case navigation. However, they don't work if the CamelHumps option is off. – viggity Jan 11 '21 at 19:32

jsea · Answer 2 · 2022-12-07T09:05:02.587

Visual Studio 2022 and above should have this built in with the shortcut keys [`Ctrl + Alt + Arrows`] for traversal and [`Ctrl + Alt + Shift + Arrows`] for selection, but not [`Ctrl + Alt + Delete/Backspace`] for removal.

Archived Answer below for earlier versions of Visual Studio or people who want Delete/Backspace subword options...

Anyone stumbling across this page after Nov 25, 2008 (who don't want to pay for ReSharper or CodeRush which no longer has a free version), the following free Extension adds this functionality: Subword Navigation by Olle Westman

(Alternatively, the VSTricks extension includes Sub-word Navigation in its list of nifty features. There is also a different Subword navigation extension created by Lauri Vasama not to be confused with Olle Westman's which this answer uses.)

The Subword Navigation project page states:

Look up Edit.Subword in keyboard bindings to set things up.

Here's how I set it up in Visual Studio 2019:

Navigate to Tools > Options > Environment > Keyboard

Under Use new shortcut in, select Text Editor

Under Show commands containing, type Edit.Subword. This should pop up an autocomplete field with the listed commands below.

Select one of the following commands you want to set its shortcut keys for. Once selected, follow the rest of the numbered steps. Then come back to Step 4 to set another one.
- Edit.SubwordNext
  - Traverses camelcases to the right [Alt + Right Arrow]
- Edit.SubwordPrevious
  - Traverses camelcases to the left [Alt + Left Arrow]
- Edit.SubwordNextExtend
  - Selects camelcases to the right [Alt + Shift + Right Arrow]
- Edit.SubwordPreviousExtend
  - Selects camelcases to the left [Alt + Shift + Left Arrow]
- Edit.SubwordDeleteNext
  - Deletes camelcases to the right [Alt + Delete]
- Edit.SubwordDeletePrevious
  - Deletes camelcases to the left [Alt + Backspace]

Note: When assigning these Subword Navigation commands to these new shortcut keys, preserve any already-existing shortcut-key functionality you want to keep beforehand by setting them to different keys. It should not conflict with any default-installed shortcut keys.

Under Press shortcut keys, press Your Shortcut Keys

Click Assign and overwrite the existing shortcut

Thanks for the head's-up! This works great, and is the most open of the presented solutions. — Chester Husk, May 19 '15 at 16:05
I meant the year 2015 and beyond. As mentioned later, I used this in VS 2012. I'll clarify in the post. Thanks. — jsea, Jun 01 '15 at 19:55
Particularly excellent answer in providing the setup details. I definitely appreciate the explanation on Next/PreviousExtend — nikodaemus, Jun 22 '15 at 17:27
In 2015, I had to overwrite TextEditor.* commands, rather than Global.* commands. ALT+RIGHT was already bound to something else. — Seth Flowers, Sep 13 '16 at 15:16
@yanyankelevich I just tested it in VS2019 and it works. However, I did notice in the Extensions Manager, there were **two** extensions called "Subword Navigation". You want the one created by Olle Westman. I've updated my answer to specify that and note it works in VS2019. — jsea, Oct 22 '19 at 20:11
I went to install this, and started thinking what I would bind to the keyboard shortcut to. "Hm, `CTRL + ALT + Arrow` probably. Let's see if that's already bound to something. Oh wait, it already does this sub-word navigation". I couldn't find any extensions I have installed that mention this, so it might already be there in VS 2022? (Edit: looks like an answer below denotes that this is new and included in VS2022) — DLeh, Nov 21 '22 at 15:07

keremispirli · Answer 3 · 2019-01-18T09:31:55.317

If you have ReSharper installed you can also configure Visual Studio keyboard shortcuts "Alt-Right" and "Alt-Left" for CamelHump, without losing standard Visual Studio behaviour for "ctrl-right" and "ctrl-left".

Open the Visual Studio Options window from Tools –> Options
Expand Environment and scroll down to Keyboard
In Show commands containing box, type "hump". This will show all commands related to CamelHumps.
Map the commands to the key mappings you wish by selecting the command from the list and entering the key mapping in the Press shortcut keys textbox, then click Assign.

Caveats:

Assign the mappings for Text Editor, not Global.
Make sure the Use CamelHumps option from Resharper -> Options -> Editor -> Editor Behaviour is turned off.

Details here: http://davidrcook.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/working-with-camel-case-in-visual-studio/

You just made my day. The perfect solution as camel humps can be such a pin with long identifiers (as anyone who uses Eclipse will attest) — chrisb, Mar 19 '13 at 16:47

score 8 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 24 '08 at 13:42

8

It's not native to Visual Studio, but you can get it for free using CodeRush Express. (ReSharper and CodeRush require payment).

answered Nov 24 '08 at 13:42

Stewart Johnson

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Only the trial is free nowadays – nikodaemus Jun 22 '15 at 17:17

score 5 · Answer 5 · answered Feb 08 '22 at 22:18

5

For those using Visual Studio 2022.

Ctrl +Alt + right or left will jump to sub words(camel case navigation).

answered Feb 08 '22 at 22:18

JasonPowell

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Also if you hold shift it will do selection too as you would expect – DLeh Nov 21 '22 at 15:09

Steve Brouillard · Answer 6 · 2011-03-25T12:28:51.837

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Visual Studio does not support this behavior. However, DevExpres's CodeRush! product supports navigation like this (using Alt-Left & Alt-Right), along with tons of other features to aid in navigation. The CodeRush! product is also bundled with their Refactor tool. They also offer a free CodeRush! & Refactor Express product, though I'm not certain if the Camel Casing navigation is part of the express product.

edited Mar 25 '11 at 12:28

answered Nov 24 '08 at 13:26

Steve Brouillard

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score 2 · Answer 7 · answered May 31 '11 at 15:45

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Add the macro below to the visual studio.

http://visualstudiomacros.blogspot.com/2008/03/getting-ctrl-right-arrow-to-respect.html

answered May 31 '11 at 15:45

ozan k

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score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Jun 17 '21 at 18:02

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This extension was created to do that, just like in Eclipse:

https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=maptz.camelcasenavigation

answered Jun 17 '21 at 18:02

NaN

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score 0 · Answer 9 · answered Dec 15 '21 at 10:36

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For anyone that is looking for this in version ~1.63 The keybinding option is now called "cursorWordPart" and can easyly be set in keyboard shortcuts :)

answered Dec 15 '21 at 10:36

Jemomi_DK

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score -1 · Answer 10 · answered Nov 24 '08 at 13:13

-1

I don't think Visual Studio supports this feature internally, as it seems to be using the normal way Ctrl+Right and Ctrl+Left work in Windows environment. But it's probably possible with some kind of extension or plugin.

answered Nov 24 '08 at 13:13

Mehrdad Afshari

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Making a guess about whether or not other people are going to be able to answer the question isn't really an answer to the question. – GregNash Apr 29 '14 at 14:35

Make Visual Studio understand CamelCase when hitting Ctrl and cursor keys

10 Answers10

Visual Studio 2022 and above should have this built in with the shortcut keys [`Ctrl + Alt + Arrows`] for traversal and [`Ctrl + Alt + Shift + Arrows`] for selection, but not [`Ctrl + Alt + Delete/Backspace`] for removal.

Archived Answer below for earlier versions of Visual Studio or people who want Delete/Backspace subword options...

Linked

Related

Make Visual Studio understand CamelCase when hitting Ctrl and cursor keys

10 Answers10

Visual Studio 2022 and above should have this built in with the shortcut keys [Ctrl + Alt + Arrows] for traversal and [Ctrl + Alt + Shift + Arrows] for selection, but not [Ctrl + Alt + Delete/Backspace] for removal.

Archived Answer below for earlier versions of Visual Studio or people who want Delete/Backspace subword options...

Linked

Related

Visual Studio 2022 and above should have this built in with the shortcut keys [`Ctrl + Alt + Arrows`] for traversal and [`Ctrl + Alt + Shift + Arrows`] for selection, but not [`Ctrl + Alt + Delete/Backspace`] for removal.