VS Code

Things to keep handy

Auto save

First of all and for you own good, enable the auto save feature in VSCode. To do so, either:

  • Go to File > Auto Save or
  • Press Ctrl + Shift + P and type auto save and select File: Toggle Auto Save or

Compact Folders

The File Explorer, renders single child folders in a compact form. In such a form, single child folders will be compressed in a combined tree element.

Setting explorer.compactFolders controls this behavior. By default, this setting is turned on.

VSCode to no open last workspace

Do not open last workspace or windows, open the preferences, set the settings below:

"window.restoreWindows": "none"

or modify the shortcut with the option -n see the [documentation here] (https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/editor/command-line) for example:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft VS Code\Code.exe" -n

or alternatively run VSCode with code -n see more here

Duplicate profiles in VSCode

This allow to simulate multi monitor support in VSCode

In the latest version, it is much simpler. In a window of the project you want to duplicate, open the command panel (Command + Shift + P in Mac or Ctrl + Shift + P in Ubuntu), then type dupl (and select Workspaces: Duplicate As Workspace in New Window), this will duplicate your workspace in a new window. Now you can have 2 windows of the same project at the same time.

Change VSCode UI font

  • Set the font with the extension fonted
  • Zoom in (make the font larger) with the extension Zoom

Select and replace all occurrences of a variable name

This comes handy in PowerShell where there isn’t F2 to refactor. To replace a variable name in Visual Studio Code, you can follow these steps:

  • Select the variable you want to replace.
  • Use the editor.action.selectHighlights command to select all occurrences of the variable. The default key mapping for this command is Ctrl+Shift+L
  • Type the replacement name to replace all occurrences of the variable with the new name.

Horizontal split

Ctrl + Shift + P (Command Palette) Toggle Vertical/Horizontal Editor Layout.

Jupyter Notebook

You can write and execute PowerShell code in a Jupyter Notebook. To do so, you need to install the extension Polyglot Notebooks then add a cell with the language #!pwsh (first line).

Sometimes the output of a cell is too long and you want to word wrap it. Search in VSCode settings for wrap and look the option Notebook > Output: Word.