How to get eclipse to go to the ONLY implementation of an interface's method?

Question

If I'm in an interface and pointing to a method name, what can I do to quickly go to the ONLY implementation of that method?

Using Eclipse 3.6.

Thorbjørn Ravn Andersen · Answer 1 · 2013-02-09T10:38:13.617

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F3 is the typical "go to implementation". For interfaces that go to the interface definition.

Instead use Ctrl + T to see all implementations of the interface definition. You can then easily go to the one you want with the arrow keys and Enter. I believe that the first one is automatically selected so that Ctrl-T + Enter will do what you need.

edited Feb 09 '13 at 10:38

answered Mar 18 '11 at 16:14

Thorbjørn Ravn Andersen

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Ctrl-T + Enter doesn't work in my case. The default focus is the filter text box. Thus, this combined keys just opens the interface. – Loc Phan May 26 '16 at 02:20
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@TheSea Ctrl-T + Arrow down + Enter perhaps then? – Thorbjørn Ravn Andersen Jan 12 '17 at 11:40
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Yes. However, Arrow down + Enter is pretty expensive when we are reading code. Especially, after pressing Ctrl + T, Eclipse search all the implementations in the workspace which causes some unpredictable delay :) – Loc Phan Jan 13 '17 at 03:12
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@TheSea I have since switched to IntelliJ which does this much much better. – Thorbjørn Ravn Andersen Jan 13 '17 at 06:55

score 89 · Accepted Answer · edited Jul 28 '17 at 13:22

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I just checked this on my Eclipse 3.6 install: Hold control (command on Mac), hover over the method name and select "Open Implementation".

You may assign a keyboard shortcut to this action by using Window > Preferences > General > Keys and searching for "Open Implementation".

edited Jul 28 '17 at 13:22

zb226

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answered Mar 18 '11 at 15:24

Zoe

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You might also want to change that key binding's scope ('When') to 'Editing Java Source` or something. – J. Katzwinkel Aug 01 '17 at 15:44
This works perfectly fine unless u have to be switching between machines that are used by several users...RIP no mouse users... – dbl Jul 21 '20 at 12:50
this will save me a lot of clicks ! thanks for sharing ! – mounaim May 27 '22 at 13:53

score 25 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:33

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In the keymap (General > Keys) search for "open implementation" and map it to whatever you want. I chose Ctrl + Shift + I. Make sure you select "Editing Java Source" in the When box. I tested it, and having the cursor over the method name and pressing Ctrl + Shift + I took me directly to the implementation instead of showing the hierarchy that you get with Ctrl + T.

enter image description here

Also you can see an answer to a nearly identical question for other options:

In eclipse, ctrl-click goes to the declaration of the method I clicked. For interfaces with one implementation, how can I just directly to that implementation?

edited May 23 '17 at 11:33

Community

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answered Mar 18 '11 at 15:25

digitaljoel

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Note that we can actually keep the original F3 key rather than having to invent some extra nonstandard key: if we assign F3 to "Open implementation" with "When = Editing Java Source", there is no conflict with the original F3 "Open declaration" with "When = In Windows" – Johan Boulé Feb 05 '19 at 15:53
Further note: "Ctrl + Shift + I" is already taken by the debugger's Inspect expression command. – Johan Boulé Feb 05 '19 at 16:25

Massimo · Answer 4 · 2022-09-09T09:19:32.140

If someone still need this information nowadays (Eclipse version 2022), to jump into interface method definition starting from an @Override method, now in Eclipse you can see on the left, next to the method signature, a little white triangle. By clicking on that you will jump to the implemented interface method. here an image of the little triangle

Oterwise, if you are on a interface method definition and you need to jump to one of the implementations, you must use CTRL+T shortcut to see the list of available implementations and than click on one of them.

How to get eclipse to go to the ONLY implementation of an interface's method?

4 Answers4