This document is an index of features that the rust-analyzer language server
provides. Shortcuts are for the default VS Code layout. If there's no shortcut,
you can use Ctrl+Shift+P to search for the corresponding action.
### Workspace Symbol ctrl+t
Uses fuzzy-search to find types, modules and functions by name across your
project and dependencies. This is **the** most useful feature, which improves code
navigation tremendously. It mostly works on top of the built-in LSP
functionality, however `#` and `*` symbols can be used to narrow down the
search. Specifically,
- `Foo` searches for `Foo` type in the current workspace
- `foo#` searches for `foo` function in the current workspace
- `Foo*` searches for `Foo` type among dependencies, including `stdlib`
- `foo#*` searches for `foo` function among dependencies
That is, `#` switches from "types" to all symbols, `*` switches from the current
workspace to dependencies.
### Document Symbol ctrl+shift+o
Provides a tree of the symbols defined in the file. Can be used to
* fuzzy search symbol in a file (super useful)
* draw breadcrumbs to describe the context around the cursor
* draw outline of the file
### On Typing Assists
Some features trigger on typing certain characters:
- typing `let =` tries to smartly add `;` if `=` is followed by an existing expression
- Enter inside comments automatically inserts `///`
- typing `.` in a chain method call auto-indents
### Extend Selection
Extends the current selection to the encompassing syntactic construct
(expression, statement, item, module, etc). It works with multiple cursors. This
is a relatively new feature of LSP:
https://github.com/Microsoft/language-server-protocol/issues/613, check your
editor's LSP library to see if this feature is supported.
### Go to Definition
Navigates to the definition of an identifier.
### Go to Implementation
Navigates to the impl block of structs, enums or traits. Also implemented as a code lens.
### Go to Type Defintion
Navigates to the type of an identifier.
### Commands ctrl+shift+p
#### Run
Shows a popup suggesting to run a test/benchmark/binary **at the current cursor
location**. Super useful for repeatedly running just a single test. Do bind this
to a shortcut!
#### Parent Module
Navigates to the parent module of the current module.
#### Matching Brace
If the cursor is on any brace (`<>(){}[]`) which is a part of a brace-pair,
moves cursor to the matching brace. It uses the actual parser to determine
braces, so it won't confuse generics with comparisons.
#### Join Lines
Join selected lines into one, smartly fixing up whitespace and trailing commas.
#### Show Syntax Tree
Shows the parse tree of the current file. It exists mostly for debugging
rust-analyzer itself.
#### Expand Macro Recursively
Shows the full macro expansion of the macro at current cursor.
#### Status
Shows internal statistic about memory usage of rust-analyzer.
#### Show RA Version
Show current rust-analyzer version.
#### Run Garbage Collection
Manually triggers GC.
#### Start Cargo Watch
Start `cargo watch` for live error highlighting. Will prompt to install if it's not already installed.
#### Stop Cargo Watch
Stop `cargo watch`.
### Assists (Code Actions)
Assists, or code actions, are small local refactorings, available in a particular context.
They are usually triggered by a shortcut or by clicking a light bulb icon in the editor.
See [assists.md](./assists.md) for the list of available assists.
### Magic Completions
In addition to usual reference completion, rust-analyzer provides some ✨magic✨
completions as well:
Keywords like `if`, `else` `while`, `loop` are completed with braces, and cursor
is placed at the appropriate position. Even though `if` is easy to type, you
still want to complete it, to get ` { }` for free! `return` is inserted with a
space or `;` depending on the return type of the function.
When completing a function call, `()` are automatically inserted. If a function
takes arguments, the cursor is positioned inside the parenthesis.
There are postifx completions, which can be triggerd by typing something like
`foo().if`. The word after `.` determines postifx completion. Possible variants are:
- `expr.if` -> `if expr {}`
- `expr.match` -> `match expr {}`
- `expr.while` -> `while expr {}`
- `expr.ref` -> `&expr`
- `expr.refm` -> `&mut expr`
- `expr.not` -> `!expr`
- `expr.dbg` -> `dbg!(expr)`
There also snippet completions:
#### Inside Expressions
- `pd` -> `println!("{:?}")`
- `ppd` -> `println!("{:#?}")`
#### Inside Modules
- `tfn` -> `#[test] fn f(){}`
### Code Highlighting
Experimental feature to let rust-analyzer highlight Rust code instead of using the
default highlighter.
#### Rainbow Highlighting
Experimental feature that, given code highlighting using rust-analyzer is
active, will pick unique colors for identifiers.
### Code hints
Rust-analyzer has two types of hints to show the information about the code:
* hover hints, appearing on hover on any element.
These contain extended information on the hovered language item.
* inlay hints, shown near the element hinted directly in the editor.
Two types of inlay hints are displayed currently:
* type hints, displaying the minimal information on the type of the expression (if the information is available)
* parameter name hints, displaying the names of the parameters in the corresponding methods
#### VS Code
In VS Code, the following settings can be used to configure the inlay hints:
* `rust-analyzer.displayInlayHints` — toggles inlay hints display on or off
* rust-analyzer.maxInlayHintLength — shortens the hints if their length exceeds the value specified. If no value is specified (`null`), no shorteninng is applied.
**Note:** VS Code does not have native support for inlay hints [yet](https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/issues/16221) and the hints are implemented using decorations.
This approach has limitations: the caret movement near the end of the hint may look [weird](https://github.com/rust-analyzer/rust-analyzer/issues/1623).