How to surround code by curly braces in IntelliJ IDEA?

Question

How to surround code by curly braces in IntelliJ IDEA? Is there any keyboard-shortcut for such operation?

score 129 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

129

Just configure Smart Keys as follow:
IDE Settings > Editor > General > Smart Keys > Surround selection on typing quote or brace.

From the IntelliJ built-in help:

If this check box is selected, the selected text on typing a quote, double-quote or brace, will be surrounded with these characters.

If this check box is not selected, then the typed quotes, double-quotes or braces will replace the selection.

edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

Community

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answered Feb 28 '16 at 21:43

Ajang R

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Bless you! NB to others: By default, my curly brackets are showing up on the left margin. You may have to play a bit with exactly what you have selected and then use the autoindent feature to make this technique result in code you like the look of. – Anne Gunn Apr 13 '16 at 17:32
Saw the option, but I've no idea how to use this. – Ascendant Dec 09 '16 at 20:37
me neither... when I select an expression and type "brace" it writes braces and cannot resolve that... – xetra11 May 18 '17 at 13:02
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Anyone wondering how to use it : select you text and type curly braces(or double quote) and the selection would be placed inside a curly brace. – Quazi Irfan Mar 15 '18 at 08:07
@xetra11 Do not type the word "brace". Type the character for an opening brace: "{" while having a text selected. – Robert May 05 '21 at 08:58

score 58 · Accepted Answer · edited Feb 29 '16 at 06:41

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Yes, try Ctrl+Alt+T (Surround With), then A (Curly Braces).

edited Feb 29 '16 at 06:41

Pavel

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answered Mar 18 '13 at 11:49

zagyi

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Doesn't work on Mac, couldn't find "curly braces" after doing option+command+T – Ascendant Dec 09 '16 at 20:39
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@ZinanXing, It's B on Mac – Andrea Bergonzo Sep 17 '17 at 23:52
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On Mac ⌘Command+Option+T brings up a menu, hit A to select curly braces option – Max Levy Dec 07 '17 at 01:30

score 6 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 09 '17 at 08:48

I had oneline if statement without curly braces and I had to update it with braces in whole file. So I updated code style to always add braces for if/else statement. In Idea go to:

Settings -> Editor -> Code Style -> Java -> Wrapping and Braces (tab)

Find "'If()' Statement"/"Force braces" and change value from "Do not force"(default) to "Always". Press ctrl + alt + L to reformat your file and curly braces would be added. settings

Hunter Zhao · Answer 4 · 2015-01-22T10:34:46.267

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Just click as the below 2 steps

1, CTRL + ALT + T
2, then press ALT + A at the same time.

Hope to help you.

edited Jan 22 '15 at 10:34

answered Mar 26 '13 at 10:55

Hunter Zhao

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Typo in first step, shall be `CTRL+ALT+T` – JabbyPanda Jan 21 '15 at 16:14

score 5 · Answer 5 · answered Jun 12 '14 at 09:10

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Add "Control flow statement without braces" to inspection settings. Then run inspection, select them in the list and then select "Apply Fix 'Add braces'".

It just saved me a whole days tedious work!

answered Jun 12 '14 at 09:10

Martin Wickman

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score 5 · Answer 6 · answered May 02 '21 at 08:05

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The easiest way is, select the code part that you want and press Shift + [

answered May 02 '21 at 08:05

Supun Sandaruwan

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score 4 · Answer 7 · answered Nov 07 '14 at 00:58

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You need to create a live template first. Just go Preferences and add a template to html/xml

enter image description here

answered Nov 07 '14 at 00:58

goksel

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Can an arbitrary shortcut be assigned to this, say `Command + B`? – Swanand Feb 26 '16 at 06:36

score 0 · Answer 8 · edited Mar 17 '20 at 12:05

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Easy, just follow the arrows in this picture, from left to right: Screenshot with arrows

edited Mar 17 '20 at 12:05

Yunnosch

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answered Mar 17 '20 at 11:58

Dr. Michael R. Alvers

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How to surround code by curly braces in IntelliJ IDEA?

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