How can I refactor C++ source code using emacs?

Question

I\'m interested mostly in C++ and method/class name/signature automatic changes.

Answer 1

Build cscope symbols.

lookup the symbol you want to refactor.

get into the cscope window, and start a macro after placing cursor on first occurence

• ret
• c-f your symbol start
• navigate to start of your symbol
• modify the word
• c-x o (back to cscope)
• n (for next cscope symbol)

you have to just c-x c-e now

Answer 2

I do this a lot, so I'm axiously awaiting other replies too.

The only tricks I know are really basic. Here are my best friends in Emacs when refactoring code:

M-x query-replace

This allows you to do a global search and replace. You'll be doing this a ton when you move methods and commonly-accessed data to other classes or namespaces.

C-x 3

This gives you a display with two buffers side-by side. You can then proceed to load different files in them, and move your cursor from one to the other with C-x o. This is pretty basic stuff, but I mention it because of how powerful it makes the next one...

C-x (
(type any amount of stuff and/or emacs commands here)
C-x )

This is how you define a macro in emacs. Any time you find yourself needing to do the same thing over and over to a bunch of code (and it is too complex for query-replace), this is a lifesaver. If you mess up, you can hit C-g to stop the macro definition, and then undo (C-_) until you are back to where you started. The keys to invoke the macro are C-x e. If you want to do it a bunch of times, you can hit Esc and type in a number first. Eg: Esc 100 C-x e will try to invoke your macro 100 times.

(Note: On Windows you can get "Meta" by hitting the Esc key, or holding down Alt).

Answer 3

If you can program in elisp, you can look to combination of cedet + srecode from CEDET libraries - it provide all instruments for this task - find callers of functions, get signature, etc. But you need to create refactory tool yourself, using these instruments

Answer 4

A friend of mine was playing with xrefactory and said it worked pretty well. It isn't cheap though.

Answer 5

With the ccls or cquery, which provide the "language server protocol" (lsp), you can refactor names with:

M-x lsp-rename

Alternative: srefactor uses the emacs semantic-mode framework: https://github.com/tuhdo/semantic-refactor/blob/master/srefactor-demos/demos.org

You can get it with M-x package-install from MELPA or at https://github.com/tuhdo/semantic-refactor/.

Answer 6

In recent Emacs versions (24), Semantic is able to this.

1. Possibly activate semantic mode M-x semantic-mode RET.
2. Bring up the Symref buffer with C-c , g.
3. Press C-c C-e to open all references.
4. Rename with R.