List of available refactorings
All refactorings are available through the Command Palette.
Some refactorings have default keybindings configured, but you can change that.
All other refactorings are available through VS Code Quick Fixes. You can access them by clicking on the lightbulb that appear next to the code Alt ↵.
Pro Tip: You can also disable the Quick Fixes you never use in VS Code settings
Table of Contents
- The Essentials:
- Simplifying Conditional Logic:
- Encapsulation:
- Moving Features:
- Organizing data:
- Working around the syntax:
- Specific to TypeScript:
- Specific to React:
The Essentials
Rename Symbol
| Keybinding |
|---|
F2 |
A
Symbolis typically a variable or a function name.
This refactoring allows you to rename things and make sure all references in your code follow! It's easier and safer to use than a classic "Find and Replace".
VS Code does this refactoring very well. That's why this refactoring is merely an alias. It delegates the work to VS Code.
Note that it handles .vue files with a similar UX while VS Code doesn't handle it natively yet.
For Vue files, the support is limited: it can only rename within the <script> tag. It won't rename your identifier in the <template> tag for instance.
Extract Variable
| Keybinding | On Mac |
|---|---|
Ctrl + Alt + V |
⌥ ⌘ V |
This refactoring helps you give a meaning to the hardcoded constants and low-level expressions. It makes your source code easier to read and maintain.
It will extract the closest element from your cursor or partial selection.
It will also handle multiple occurrences.
Extract Type
| Keybinding | On Mac |
|---|---|
Ctrl + Alt + V |
⌥ ⌘ V |
This does exactly the same as Extract Variable, but for types!
Inline Variable
💡 Available as Quick Fix (Alt ↵)
| Keybinding | On Mac |
|---|---|
Ctrl + Alt + N |
⌥ ⌘ N |
This refactoring is the opposite of Extract Variable. It replaces a redundant usage of a variable or a constant with its initializer. It's usually helpful to inline things so you can extract them differently.
Inline Function
| Keybinding | On Mac |
|---|---|
Ctrl + Alt + N |
⌥ ⌘ N |
This refactoring is similar to Inline Variable, but for functions. It replaces each call to the function with the function body. It helps to remove needless indirections.
Move Statement Up
| Keybinding |
|---|
Alt + Shift + U |
A
Statementis typically a variable or a function declaration.
Moves the whole selected statement up. If the selected statement and the one above are one-liners, this is the same as doing VS Code Move Line Up. But if one of these statements is multi-lines, this refactoring is very handy!
As for all refactorings, it works even if you partially select the statement, or if the cursor is on the statement.
Move Statement Down
| Keybinding |
|---|
Alt + Shift + D |
Same as Move Statement Up, but it moves the selected statement down. Like, the other direction. That's it.
Move Statement Up and Move Statement Down also work on object properties. They always produce valid code, so you don't have to bother with the trailing comma anymore!
Simplifying Conditional Logic
Invert Boolean Logic
💡 Available as Quick Fix (Alt ↵)
Inverts the logical expression while preserving behaviour. It can be useful to tweak a logical expression before extracting meaningful chunks out of it.
This refactoring follows De Morgan's laws.
It will invert the closest expression from your cursor or partial selection.
Remove Redundant Else
💡 Available as Quick Fix (Alt ↵)
Removes the else keyword when it's not necessary, resulting in less nested code. This refactoring helps you replace nested conditional with guard clauses to make your code easier to read.
Simplify Ternary
💡 Available as Quick Fix (Alt ↵)
Simplify ternary expressions that you might end up with after executing other refactorings.
Flip If/Else
💡 Available as Quick Fix (Alt ↵)
Flips the if and else statements. It's a useful refactoring to have in your toolbelt to simplify logical expressions.
Flip Ternary
💡 Available as Quick Fix (Alt ↵)
Flips a ternary statement. It's really similar to Flip If/Else refactoring.
Convert If/Else to Ternary
💡 Available as Quick Fix (Alt ↵)
Converts an if/else statement into a (shorter) ternary expression. This is very handy to improve code readability.
Convert Ternary to If/Else
💡 Available as Quick Fix (Alt ↵)
Converts a ternary expression into an if/else statement. It reverses Convert If/Else to Ternary refactoring.
Convert If/Else to Switch
💡 Available as Quick Fix (Alt ↵)
Converts an if/else statement into a switch statement. This is typically what you do before introducing polymorphism to clean object-oriented code.
Convert Switch to If/Else
💡 Available as Quick Fix (Alt ↵)
Converts a switch statement into an if/else statement. It reverses Convert If/Else to Switch refactoring.
Split If Statement
💡 Available as Quick Fix (Alt ↵)
Splits the logical expression of the closest if statement. This is an helpful tool to help you refactor complex branching logic, safely.
Merge If Statements
💡 Available as Quick Fix (Alt ↵)
This is the opposite of Split If Statement. It consolidates conditional expressions to clean up the code.
It also works with else-if.
It also handles consecutive if statements that can be merged.
Merge With Previous If Statement
💡 Available as Quick Fix (Alt ↵)
Merges selected statement with the if statement that is above. This is handy when you want to decompose a conditional to clean the code.
If you want to merge 2 consecutive if statements, it will resolve the dead code for you:
Lift Up Conditional
💡 Available as Quick Fix (Alt ↵)
Useful when you need to have the similar conditionals at the top level. If you get there, you'll be able to convert them into a top-level switch statement, which you can easily refactor with polymorphism.
Hocus, pocus… This refactoring takes care of the gymnastic for you! Resulting code will have the same behaviour.
Encapsulation
Extract Class
💡 Available as Quick Fix (Alt ↵)
Often, classes grow too big and do too many things. You want to split them by extracting some behavior in a new class.
This is where Abracadabra comes in and automate most of the grunt work for you. It can extract the properties and function you want in a keystrokes! It will take care of creating the new class while preserving existing behavior—it's a refactoring after all.
Moving Features
Move to Existing File
💡 Available as Quick Fix (Alt ↵)
VS Code allows you to move things to new files. But how do you move things to existing files?
Well, now you can with Abracadabra
Trigger the refactoring on a function you want to move, select the destination file, let it take care of the rest. It works for top-level function declarations, resolves required imports, and prevents you from creating circular dependencies.
It works on function, type, interface, and variable declarations.
Remove Dead Code
💡 Available as Quick Fix (Alt ↵)
Sometimes, Abracadabra can determine that some code can't be reached. If so, it can also get rid of the dead code for you.
Organizing data
Split Declaration and Initialization
💡 Available as Quick Fix (Alt ↵)
Splits the declaration of the variable and its initialization. If it's a const, it will convert it to let.
Split Multiple Declarations
💡 Available as Quick Fix (Alt ↵)
Splits multiple variables declarated together onto a single line each.
Convert let to const
💡 Available as Quick Fix (Alt ↵)
Converts the declaration of a variable that is a let to a const if it's not mutated within the scope.
Working around the syntax
Add Numeric Separator
💡 Available as Quick Fix (Alt ↵)
Did you know you could write 10_000 instead of 10000? Well, now you know. And you can make code easier to read with 2 keystrokes!
Destructure Object
Not available as a Quick Fix, use the Command Palette to run this one. Temporary until we get #416 resolved.
Sometimes it's more convenient to destructure variables out of an object. It reduces the noise in the code.
Whenever the shape of the object can be inferred, you'll be able to destructure it automatically. That works from any occurrence of the identifier you want to destructure!
P.S: this may work best with TypeScript code since it's easier to infer the object shape there
Convert to Arrow Function
💡 Available as Quick Fix (Alt ↵)
Converts a function declaration into an arrow function, which is convenient when you want to switch the syntax.
Toggle Braces
💡 Available as Quick Fix (Alt ↵)
Sometimes you need to add braces before you add more code. Other times you don't need them and prefer to get rid of them.
This refactoring allows you to toggle the braces on the closest statement of your cursor!
It works on:
- If Statements (both
ifandelseindependently) - Arrow Function Expressions (e.g.
const someFunction = () => {}) - JSX Attributes (e.g.
<SomeComponent anAttribute={"a value"} />) - Loops (for and while blocks)
Convert to Template Literal
💡 Available as Quick Fix (Alt ↵)
This refactoring is already handled by VS Code.
But there's one scenario they don't want to handle: convert simple strings into template literals.
This is too bad because it's convenient to turn an existing string into a template literal to start adding some variables inside.
Hence, Abracadabra is proposing the refactoring for such scenario!
Replace Binary with Assignment
💡 Available as Quick Fix (Alt ↵)
This one might seem obscure, but it's really replacing + with +=. Whenever it's possible, Abracadabra will propose you to refactor the code for a shorter (assignment) syntax.
Convert For-Loop to ForEach
💡 Available as Quick Fix (Alt ↵)
When it's possible, it converts an old-school for-loop into a for-Each() call.
Convert ForEach to For-Of
💡 Available as Quick Fix (Alt ↵)
When it's possible, it converts a forEach() into a for-of loop.
Create Factory for Constructor
💡 Available as Quick Fix (Alt ↵)
Create a factory function to instantiate the selected class. This can be useful when you want to expose a regular function while using a class behind the hood.
Regular functions don't need new to be invoked, which makes them easier to compose around.
Specific to TypeScript
Extract Generic Type
💡 Available as Quick Fix (Alt ↵)
This refactoring will turn an existing type into a generic. Very handy when you need to make an interface more generic.
Extract Interface
💡 Available as Quick Fix (Alt ↵)
Extract the interface from a class.
This is very useful when you need to invert a dependency: create an interface from an existing class, so you can provide a different implementation of this interface.
Specific to React
Convert to Pure Component
Not available as a Quick Fix, use the Command Palette to run this one
This one is specific to React and comes from react codemod.
It converts ES6 classes that only have a render() method, only have safe properties (statics and props), and do not have refs to Functional Components.
Extract useCallback()
💡 Available as Quick Fix (Alt ↵)
A useful refactoring to extract a function props into a useCallback() declaration. It will resolve the required dependencies for you.
Note: it works in a web editor too (eg. https://github.dev/nicoespeon/abracadabra), but it can't resolve the required dependencies from the browser.
