CODEWITHSUNDEEP
netbeansindentation
mihca
mihca

Reputation: 1257

Netbeans unindent (Shift+Tab) not working when cursor is inside the line (no selection)?

In Neatbeans, unindent works as expected when multiple lines are selected. But consider the following, where the pipe character | symbolizes the cursor position in the editor:

(a) Cursor at start of line (no selection)

    |hello world!

(b) Cursor inside of line (no selection)

    hell|o world!

In Netbeans, when I hit Shift+Tab on version (a) then the indentation is removed. This is what I expect. However, when I hit Shift+Tab on version (b) then nothing happens. This is different from the code editors that I am used to. I would expect the indentation to be removed, or that the cursor moves to the start of the line, such that the next Shift+Tab will remove the indentation.

Is there a config in Netbeans that makes unindent via Shift+Tab work when the cursor is inside the line?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 328

Answers (2)

user330315
user330315

Reputation:

To shift the line to the left, regardless of the cursor position you can use the "Shift line left" editor action. In the default NetBeans mapping this is assigned to Alt+Shift+KP_LEFT and Alt+Shift-LEFT

Just open the keymap options page and search for the action "shift line"

enter image description here

It's not exactly what you are asking, but you could try to remap that action to "Shift-Tab" and see if it works.

Upvotes: 1

skomisa
skomisa

Reputation: 17383

TLDR: There seems to be a bug in the way NetBeans handles indenting/unindenting.

I would expect the indentation to be removed

I don't see any formal documentation on how unindenting is supposed to work in NetBeans, but it appears to move the text to the right of the cursor to the left, as long as there is only whitespace to the left of the cursor. While that is different to how unindenting works in other code editors such as Intellij IDEA and Eclipse, where the entire line is shifted to the left even when the cursor is poitioned within the text, it's not necessarily incorrect.

If you want to unindent in NetBeans there are two simple alternatives: either position the cursor at the start of the line, or select some text - anything at all! - on that line before unindenting.

Some comments in the NetBeans Bug Report Bug 212353 - Shift+Tab (Delete tab) shortcut does not work in editor may be relevant:

Please note that those actions should be inverse - I mean when you select a block and you hit <TAB> <TAB> <Shift-TAB> <Shift-TAB> you should always end up with the same text. The same should be true if you change the order to <Shift-TAB> <Shift-TAB> <TAB> <TAB> you should end up with the same text.

That said, NetBeans is not adhering to that standard. Using your second example, pressing <TAB><TAB> works fine, but subsequently pressing <SHIFT><TAB> does nothing, so it is not possible to "end up with the same text". That looks like a bug (in Apache NetBeans 11.2 at least). You can raise a bug report here.

It's also worth noting that <Shift> + <Tab> is actually defined as the keymap for "Delete TAB" rather "unindenting".

Is there a config in Netbeans that makes unindent via Shift+Tab work when the cursor is inside the line?

I don't think so. All you can do, using Tools > Options > Keymap, is to change the shortcut keys from <Shift> + <Tab> to something else, but that won't change the behavior.

Upvotes: 1

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