Xcode duplicate line

There is a Duplicate command in the Edit Menu (with a default shortcut of ⌘D), but it is (as Halley pointed out) meant for duplication in the Interface Builder part of Xcode.

So, how do you (easily) duplicate a line in Xcode 4?

Related question (with a working answer) for Xcode 3 ... and which does not work for Xcode 4.

Why not just copy & paste?

Because it is tedious and entails too much hand-acrobatics:

either (1): moving to line beginning and then pressing ⇧^E, then copying with ⌘C, moving to new line, alligning cursor, and finally pasting with ⌘V;

or (2): ^A (set cursor to line begining), ^SPACE (set mark), ^E (set cursor to line ending), ⇧^W (Select to Mark; customized), copy, new line, etc.

As Frank Schröder (in the related question) put it:

The whole point is NOT to use the Cmd-C/Cmd-V shortcuts.

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最佳答案

  1. Go to this folder which contains dark side of the force:

    • Xcode 4.2 or prior: /Developer/Library/PrivateFrameworks/IDEKit.framework/Resources
    • Xcode 4.3 or later: /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Frameworks/IDEKit.framework/Resources.

  2. Open IDETextKeyBindingSet.plist.

  3. Add a new dictionary and a new command item as the screenshot below (name them what you want): Editing the plist

    That's: selectLine:, copy:, moveToEndOfLine:, insertNewline:, paste:, deleteBackward:

  4. Restart Xcode and go to Preferences - Key Bindings, search for your command.

  5. Set a key combination for the command: Key Bindings

  6. Finally unleashed the power of key bindings on Xcode... Enjoy it!

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I would consider revising the command sequence to:

selectLine:,
copy:,
moveToEndOfLine:,
insertNewline:,
deleteToBeginningOfLine:,
paste:,
moveToBeginningOfLine:,
deleteBackward:

The added deleteToBeginningOfLine maintains the indenting of the duplicated line.

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@Hailei's answer was pretty good, but had the unfortunate side-effect of clobbering the clipboard contents (leaving it populated with the contents of the duplicated line), which is precisely the part of the manual copy/paste approach that I was trying to avoid.

So, I changed the command sequence to this:

moveToBeginningOfLine:,
deleteToEndOfLine:,
yank:,
insertNewline:,
moveToBeginningOfLine:,
yank:

The 2 yank:s might not work as intended if you have NSTextKillRingSize set to something aside from 1, but I'm pretty sure 1 is the default, and you have to do some non-trivial work to change it (it requires adding an entry to ~/Library/Preferences/.GlobalPreferences.plist).

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Here is my Delete (CTRL+D) and Duplicate (CMD+SHIFT+D) entries from my IDETextKeyBindingSet.plist. (in /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Frameworks/IDEKit.framework/Versions/A/Resources )

I just set these up in Xcode 4.6.1 (based on answer from user570753 above and elsewhere)

    <key>Custimozed</key>
<dict>
<key>Delete Current Line</key>
<string>deleteToBeginningOfLine:, moveToEndOfLine:, deleteToBeginningOfLine:, deleteBackward:, moveDown:, moveToBeginningOfLine:</string>
<key>Duplicate Current Line</key>
<string>selectLine:, copy:, moveToEndOfLine:, insertNewline:, deleteToBeginningOfLine:, paste:, moveToBeginningOfLine:, deleteBackward:</string>
</dict>
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insertLineBreak needed at least for me to make copy on new line, without it i got copy on same line

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Why duplicate a single line? Duplicate whole paragraph is better. My sequence:

Duplicate Current Paragraph

selectParagraph:,
delete:,
yank:,
moveToBeginningOfParagraph:,
yank:,
moveUp:,
moveToEndOfParagraph:

Delete Current Paragraph

selectParagraph:,
delete:,
moveUp:,
moveToEndOfParagraph:

Works fine in Xcode 4.6

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I'm wondering why nobody has mentioned using ⌘ along with the arrow keys (←↑→↓) to both move the cursor and to select entire lines (by adding ⇧).

I regularly copy entire lines (duplicate) by moving the cursor to the beginning of a line using ⌘+← (instead of ctrl+A) and then use ⌘+⇧+→ (instead of ctrl+⇧+E) to select the whole line to the end and then copy/paste.

I've run into other threads where noone seems to use these keyboard shortcuts. They are global in OS X and I use them all the time! Much less hand-acrobatics ;)

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Today I wrote a very small plugin for Xcode 5 that delete and duplicate lines and selections.

You can download it from my GitHub repo: XcodeKit Plugin - https://github.com/ptfly/XcodeKit

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Update 2020

Works on Xcode versions: 11.3.1 too

Works in Xcode versions: 7.1, 7.3, 7.3.1, 8.0, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 9.0, 9.1, 9.2, 10.0, 10.1, 10.2.1

Instruction

  1. Give permissions to edit the following files. Most of the time OS will not allow you to edit the files.

for 11.3.1 version

sudo chmod 666 /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Frameworks/IDEKit.framework/Versions/A/Resources//IDETextKeyBindingSet.plist


sudo chmod 777 /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Frameworks/IDEKit.framework/Versions/A/Resources/

below 11.3 versions


sudo chmod 666 /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Frameworks/IDEKit.framework/Resources/IDETextKeyBindingSet.plist


sudo chmod 777 /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Frameworks/IDEKit.framework/Resources/
  1. Edit the the file, by writing the following command: (Open it in sublime or text editor if you can)

for 11.3.1

open /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Frameworks/IDEKit.framework/Versions/A/Resources/IDETextKeyBindingSet.plist

for below versions

open /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Frameworks/IDEKit.framework/Versions/A/Resources/IDETextKeyBindingSet.plist
  1. Append the following xml snippets:
<key>custom</key>
<dict>
<key>Duplicate Current Line</key>
<string>moveToBeginningOfLine:, deleteToEndOfLine:, yank:, insertNewline:, moveToBeginningOfLine:, yank:</string>
<key>Duplicate Lines</key>
<string>selectLine:, copy:, moveToEndOfLine:, insertNewline:, paste:, deleteBackward:</string>
<key>Delete Line</key>
<string>selectLine:, deleteBackward:</string>
</dict>

Screenshots

enter image description here

and Restart Xcode and go to Preferences - Key Bindings, search for the command we typed (Duplicate Lines&Duplicate Current Line).

enter image description here

Thats it.

For unix people to note :-

sudo chmod 755 /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Frameworks/IDEKit.framework/Versions/A/Resources/
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EDIT: Aug 16, 2022 After every update to Xcode I have to fix this duplicate line issue. Again did it today. The entry for line duplication from the IDETextKeyBindingSet.plist file always gets deleted but not the other custom entries. But in the Xcode's key bindings my shortcut remains. So every time I have to open the IDETextKeyBindingSet.plist file and add these lines under the <key>Insertions and Indentations</key> section under <dict>, and restart Xcode to make line duplication shortcut work.

<key>Duplicate Current Line</key>
<string>selectLine:, copy:, moveToBeginningOfLine:, paste:, moveToEndOfLine:</string>

EDIT: Jul 12, 2020 After update to Xcode 11.5 again my duplicate line key entry from the plist file was gone. I had to add it again. The key binding was still there though.

EDIT: Sep 17, 2019 After update to Xcode 10.3 again my duplicate line key entry from the plist file was gone. I had to add it again. The key binding was still there though.

EDIT: May 28, 2019 After update to Xcode 10.2 again my duplicate line key entry from the plist file was gone. I had to add it again. The key binding was still there though.

EDIT: Dec 23, 2018 After update to Xcode 10.1 all my shortcuts broke again. But something different was that after updating the plist file for line duplication, I didn't have to define my key bindings, they were already there. Strange.

EDIT: OCT 14, 2018 Xcode 10: Somebody high up at Apple really loves copy/paste, and makes sure that with every version of Xcode update, the line duplication is removed from everyone's install. We developers have been extremely frustrated by this nonsense going on in Xcode since forever, the only IDE with no line duplication option. I just updated to Xcode 10, and as you guessed it - all my shortcut keys are removed along with my line duplication functionality. However, it is fixable like in the original answer. A slight difference this time is that you will need the following line:

<key>Duplicate Current Line</key>
<string>selectLine:, copy:, moveToBeginningOfLine:, paste:, moveToEndOfLine:</string>

EDIT: Xcode 9: I had to redo my shortcuts and line duplication and deletion, but good thing is that now you can edit IDETextKeyBindingSet.plist again. This high up Apple guy must be on vacation when they released this version.

EDIT: Xcode 8: Buggy, you can't modify the IDETextKeyBindingSet.plist file at all. Xcode resets it on start. This high up guy at Apple is really determined to make us use copy/paste instead of simple line duplication like in all other IDEs out there.

EDIT: Xcode 7.1 and still there are no shortcuts for line duplication and deletion. This is the only IDE I have ever worked with with no such shortcuts. And I can't imagine life of a developer without these two critical shortcuts.

Here is how it can be done:

First we need to modify a plist file that lives inside the Xcode.app bundle (needs sudo to edit)

/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Frameworks/IDEKit.framework/Resources/IDETextKeyBindingSet.plist

Then look for <key>Insertions and Indentations</key> and under the <dict> tag add the following:

<key>Insert New Line Below</key>
<string>moveToEndOfLine:, insertNewline:</string>
<key>Insert New Line Above</key>
<string>moveUp:, moveToEndOfLine:, insertNewline:</string>
<key>Duplicate Current Line</key>
<string>selectLine:, copy:, moveToEndOfLine:, insertNewline:, paste:, deleteBackward:</string>

Then find the and these inside the section <key>Deletions</key> under the <dict> tag:

<key>Delete Current Line</key>
<string>selectLine:, delete:</string>
<string>selectLine:, delete:</string>

enter image description here

Now Open/Restart Xcode, go to Preferences and go to the “Key Bindings” tab. Use the search bar to filter and look for the new shortcuts. Then click in front of the shortcut description to assign it a shortcut of your liking. Make sure your shortcut doesn't conflict with existing shortcuts.

enter image description here

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Any sublime text users that would like to match sublime's duplicateLineUp and duplicateLineDown in XCode, please add the following to your IDETextKeyBindingSet.plist file

<key>Line Duplications</key>
<dict>
<key>Duplicate Current Line Above</key>
<string>selectLine:, copy:, moveToEndOfLine:, insertNewline:, paste:, deleteBackward:, moveUp:</string>
<key>Duplicate Current Line Below</key>
<string>selectLine:, copy:, moveToEndOfLine:, insertNewline:, paste:, deleteBackward:</string>
</dict>
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Ok, I've came up with this:

Version for XCode 11:

selectParagraph:, delete:, undo:, moveRight:, yankAndSelect:
  • doesn't touch clipboard
  • works with multiple lines
  • selects added lines, so can be used multiple times without reselecting
  • fixed selection in XCode 11
  • works better with undo

Since I'm applying this change after every XCode update, I've made a script for that. Possibly it can cause some damage, but I've tried to make it relatively safe. It makes a copy of the file, and then replaces line with its copy and additional command using perl. Requires XCode to be installed at /Applications/Xcode.app

cp /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Frameworks/IDEKit.framework/Resources/IDETextKeyBindingSet.plist ~/Desktop/IDETextKeyBindingSet.plist; sudo perl -pi -e 's/\<string\>selectWord:\<\/string>/'$'\<string\>selectWord:\<\/string\>\n\t\t\<key\>Duplicate Selection\<\/key\>\n\t\t\<string\>selectParagraph:, delete:, undo:, moveRight:, yankAndSelect:\<\/string>/g' /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Frameworks/IDEKit.framework/Resources/IDETextKeyBindingSet.plist

Older version (I'm not sure if the new one is compatible with older versions, so I'll keep it here):

selectParagraph:, delete:, yank:, moveToBeginningOfLine:, setMark:, yank:, moveToBeginningOfLine:, moveLeft:, selectToMark:

and script for older version to avoid manual file editing:

cp /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Frameworks/IDEKit.framework/Resources/IDETextKeyBindingSet.plist ~/Desktop/IDETextKeyBindingSet.plist; sudo perl -pi -e 's/\<string\>selectWord:\<\/string>/'$'\<string\>selectWord:\<\/string\>\n\t\t\<key\>Duplicate Selection\<\/key\>\n\t\t\<string\>selectParagraph:, delete:, yank:, moveToBeginningOfLine:, setMark:, yank:, moveToBeginningOfLine:, moveLeft:, selectToMark:\<\/string>/g' /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Frameworks/IDEKit.framework/Resources/IDETextKeyBindingSet.plist

edit: minor fix edit2: changed to paragraph selection edit3: added version for XCode 11

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In case anyone else is denied access to edit IDETextKeyBindingSet.plist you can give yourself read/write permissions by:

sudo chmod 777 /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Frameworks/IDEKit.framework/Versions/A/Resources/IDETextKeyBindingSet.plist
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I had a big trouble to unlock .plist file on MacOS Sierra and Xcode 9, even @Tim decision didn't work for me. If you have the same problem, go to terminal and do this:

cd /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Frameworks/IDEKit.framework/Versions/A/Resources/
sudo chmod -R 777 *
nano IDETextKeyBindingSet.plist

Few other possible ways to do this are also described here.

Then in nano editor click ^W and type 'insertions' to jump to 'Insertions and Indentations' part. Just under <dict> tag paste this xml-snippet: 

<key>Duplicate line</key>
<string>selectLine:, copy:, moveToEndOfLine:, insertNewLine:, paste:, deleteBackward:</string>

Press control + X, then Y, then Enter to save the file in nano editor.

UPD: I came up with a better decision, which adds an additional line before duplication (useful when you want to duplicate a line which has an another line just below it): 

<key>Duplicate line</key>
<string>selectLine:, copy:, moveToEndOfLine:, insertLineBreak:, moveUp:, paste:, moveToBeginningOfLine:</string>
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Just to complement Hailei's answer, the commands that worked the best for me were:

selectLine:, copy:, moveRight:, moveLeft:, insertNewline:, paste:, deleteBackward:

His suggested commands were copying the desired line two lines below, for me.

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<key>Duplicate Lines</key>
<string>selectLine:, copy:, moveToBeginningOfLine:, paste:</string>

Duplicate line(s) supported. (This works in Xcode 9.2)

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As for Xcode 11 none of the above worked for me. The first answer had a weird behavior as it was inserting the line after the next line. The following answer, however, worked for me.

<key>Duplication</key>
<dict>
<key>Duplicate Current Line</key>
<string>moveToBeginningOfLine:, deleteToEndOfLine:, yank:, insertNewline:, moveToBeginningOfLine:, yank:</string>
<key>Duplicate Lines</key>
<string>selectLine:, copy:, moveToEndOfLine:, insertNewline:, paste:, deleteBackward:</string>
<key>Delete Line</key>
<string>selectLine:, deleteBackward:</string>
</dict>
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For XCode 13.

Map "Vim Mode" to ^⌘V.

Then: ^⌘V yyp ^⌘V

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this works 100% like IntelliJ IDEA and Android Studio

Read accepted answer and add this

selectLine:, copy:, moveToBeginningOfLine:, paste:, moveToEndOfLine:

instead of

selectLine:, copy:, moveToEndOfLine:, insertNewline:, paste:, deleteBackward:
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Duplicate menu item and its corresponding keyboard shortcut now duplicate the selected text

Xcode 14 Beta 3 Release Notes

New Features in Xcode 14 Beta 3 When editing code, the Edit > Duplicate menu item and its corresponding keyboard shortcut now duplicate the selected text — or the line that currently contains the insertion point, if no text is selected. (8614499) (FB5618491)


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