How to go back in Eclipse?
JavaEclipseJava Problem Overview
Is there a way to go back in Eclipse? Basically, when I'm jumping around a big project following the execution flow (ctrl + click and etc.), is there a way to retrace a step? If my code calls a method and I go to the method definition, is there a key combination that will take me back to the calling code?
Java Solutions
Solution 1 - Java
Press Alt+Left Arrow and Alt+Right Arrow like you would in a web browser.
Solution 2 - Java
On OS X:
- ⌘ + [ ( Command + [ ) : Go Back
- ⌘ + ] ( Command + ] ) : Go Forward
Solution 3 - Java
As Robin mentioned, you can also jump to the last edit location. Ctrl+Q is the keyboard shortcut for this!
Solution 4 - Java
On Windows/Ubuntu this was always
ALT+LEFT ARROW = Go back
ALT+RIGHT ARROW = Go forward
However, on MAC OSX, for me it was
ALT(Option)+COMMAND+LEFT ARROW = Go back
ALT(Option)+COMMAND+RIGHT ARROW = Go forward
Hopefully this will help other Mac people in the future who banged their head on the desk when the other answers did not work.
Solution 5 - Java
In addition to the keyboard shortcut mentioned by @lucas, there is the left and right arrow icons in the toolbar. It also has a handy back to last edit location as well.
Both of these are of course reflected in the menu under Navigate as well.
Solution 6 - Java
Keyboard bindings can change based on your OS and current Keys Scheme. So the best way to know a keyboard binding is to look up its Command in Preferences > Keys. That is also where you can change or add a keyboard binding.
Which means instead of asking for a shortcut, you should generally ask for the command (or at least ask for both). In this case the commands you want are Backward History
and Forward History
. You can see in the following screenshot that they are mapped to Ctrl+[ and Ctrl+] in my Key Scheme (because I changed them to that).
As mentioned by others, Last Edit Location
can be a really useful command also. In my case it's mapped to Ctrl+Q, but you check it under Keys :).
Solution 7 - Java
These commands are very frequently used, so it is worth having all their shortcuts the same way in all your IDEs. To adjust them:
- Open Eclipse
- Windows -> Preferences -> General -> Keys
- Search for "Backward History" and "Forward History" and adjust the bindings.
For me personally Visual Studio's default Ctrl+- and Ctrl+= works best.