How do I hotkey directly to File Search tab in Eclipse

Question

When I use CTRL+H I end up on the Java Search tab. I would very much like a shortcut to go directly to File Search instead. Is that possible?

S

Answer 1

I've run into this problem before, too.

I tried following the advice in the question response given by @Martin to rebind Ctrl+H to "File Search" in Window | Preferences | General | Keys, but for some reason, I don't have a "File Search" entry in the Command column. (I'm running Eclipse 3.3 currently; maybe the "File Search" entry was added in a subsequent release?)

Update: As Martin pointed out in a comment on this answer, I didn't have the "Include unbound commands" checkbox checked in the Preferences | Keys dialog, which is why "File Search" wasn't showing up for me. I now have Ctrl+H bound to "File Search", as Martin suggested in his answer on this page, and it works great. Thanks Martin!

I ended up working around the original problem by bringing up the Search dialog with Ctrl+H, then clicking the Customize button on the dialog, which brings up a "Search Page Selection" dialog which allows you to hide or show tabs on the Search dialog. I hid the tabs other than "File Search," which causes "File Search" to be activated by default on future uses of Ctrl+H.

Answer 2

You can just define a key binding that opens the file search:

1. Go to Preferences > General > Keys
2. Type "file search" in the search box. (If there are no results, and you have a really old Eclipse version, select the Include Unbound Commands check box.)
3. Put the caret into the Binding text box and press the key combination you want to use:

You can either re-use the CTRL+H binding (delete the other binding in that case) or define another one (e.g. CTRL+SHIFT+H). To delete the other binding search for "Open Search Dialog" and click on Unbind Command.

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Other solution: You could press CTRL+3 in your editor, type in "file s", press Enter. The next time you press CTRL+3 "File Search" is at the top.

Answer 3

I learnt to use a "pseudo-hotkey" ALT+A F (works also as ALT+A ALT+F), which resolves to: "Menu Se[a]rch → [F]ile..." and has the advantage of being always present, without need for reconfiguration.