Pycharm how to comment block

Work with source code

When you work with code, PyCharm ensures that your work is stress-free. It offers various shortcuts and features to help you add, select, copy, move, edit, fold, find occurrences, and save code.

For navigation inside the editor, refer to Editor basics.

Find action

If you do not remember a shortcut for the action you want to use, press Ctrl+Shift+A to find any action by name.

You can use the same dialog to find classes, files, or symbols. For more information, refer to Searching Everywhere.

Add a new class, file, package, or scratch file

In the editor, press Ctrl+Alt+Insert to add a class, file, or package.

PyCharm creates a temporary file that you can run and debug. For more information, refer to Scratch files.

Toggle read-only attribute of a file

If a file is read-only, it is marked with the closed lock icon in the status bar, in its editor tab, or in the Project tool window. If a file is writable, it is marked with the open lock icon in the Status bar.

Open file in the editor or select it in the Project tool window.

Do one of the following:

Click the lock icon in the status bar.

If a read-only status is set by a version control system, it’s suggested that you use PyCharm version control integration features. For more information, see Version control.

Select code constructs

In the editor, place the caret at the item you want to select and press Ctrl+W / Ctrl+Shift+W to extend or shrink your selection.

For example, in a plain text file, the selection starts within the whole word then extends to the sentence, paragraph, and so on.

If you need just to highlight your braces, place the caret immediately after the block closing brace/bracket or before the block opening brace/bracket.

Select code according to capitalization

Select the Use «CamelHumps» words checkbox.

If you want to use double-click when selecting according to capitalization, make sure that the Honor CamelHumps words. checkbox is selected on the Editor | General page of the Settings/Preferences dialog ( Ctrl+Alt+S ).

Configure tabs and indents

Select a language for which you want to configure the indentation.

Copy and paste code

You can use the standard shortcuts to copy Ctrl+C and paste Ctrl+V any selected code fragment. If nothing is selected, PyCharm automatically copies as is the whole line where the caret is located.

The default number of items stored in the clipboard history is 100.

When you copy and paste code to the editor, PyCharm displays the hidden (special) characters represented by their Unicode name abbreviation.

You can copy the reference to a line or a symbol.

Place the caret at a certain line of code and press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+C (or select Copy Reference from the context menu or from the Edit menu). PyCharm creates a string in the format that depends on a symbol at caret. For example:

Solver.Solver.discr for a Python method

Solver\Solver.py:14 for a Python file

Transpose characters

In the editor, place the caret at the characters you want to swap.

There is no default shortcut for this action. You can assign a custom shortcut.

Lines of code

PyCharm offers several useful shortcuts for manipulating code lines.

If you need to undo or redo your changes, press Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Shift+Z respectively.

You can also join string literals, a field or variable declaration, and a statement. Note that PyCharm checks the code style settings and eliminates unwanted spaces and redundant characters.

PyCharm splits the string and provides the correct syntax. You can also use the Break string on ‘\n’ intention to split string literals. Press Alt+Enter or click to select this intention.

To move a line up or down, press Alt+Shift+Up or Alt+Shift+Down respectively.

To move (swap) a code element to the left or to the right, place the caret at it, or select it and press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Left for left or Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Right for right.

Code statements

Move statements

In the editor, place the caret at the needed statement and press Ctrl+Shift+Up to move a statement up or Ctrl+Shift+Down to move a statement down. PyCharm moves the selected statement performing a syntax check.

If moving of the statement is not allowed in the current context, the actions will be disabled.

Complete current statement

Unwrap or remove statement

Place the caret at the expression you want to remove or unwrap.

PyCharm shows a popup with all actions available in the current context. To make it easier to distinguish between statements to be extracted and statements to be removed, PyCharm uses different background colors.

Code fragments

Move and copy code fragments by dragging them in the editor.

To move a code fragment, select it and drag the selection to the target location.

To copy a code selection, keeping Ctrl pressed, drag it to the target location.

The copy action might not be available in macOS since it can conflict with global OS shortcuts.

The drag functionality is enabled by default. To disable it, in the Settings/Preferences dialog ( Ctrl+Alt+S ), go to Editor | General and clear the Enable Drag’n’Drop functionality in editor checkbox in the Mouse section.

Note that when you apply the toggle case action to the CamelCase name format, PyCharm converts the name to the lower case.

Block comments do not apply to Python scripts!

Parameter hints

Parameter hints show the names of parameters in methods and functions to make your code easier to read. By default, parameter hints are enabled and shown only for values that are literals or function expressions but not for named objects.

Configure parameter hints

Select Parameter hints from the list, make sure the Show parameter hints checkbox is selected, and then specify the context where you want parameter hints shown.

The preview below shows how the changes you make in the settings affect the code appearance.

For some methods and functions, PyCharm does not show parameter hints in any context. Click Exclude list. to view these methods and functions, possibly enable parameter hints for them, or add new items to the list.

Code folding

Folded code fragments are shown as shaded ellipses (). If a folded code fragment contains errors, PyCharm highlights the fragment in red.

If PyCharm changes code in the folded fragment during the code reformatting, the code fragment will be automatically expanded.

Expand or collapse code elements

PyCharm collapses or expands all fragments within the selection, or, if nothing is selected, all fragments in the current file, for example, all methods in a file.

You can fold or unfold any manually selected regions in code.

Fold or unfold nested fragments

Use the Surround With action

You can collapse or expand code using the Surround With action.

Optionally, specify a description under which the collapsed fragment will be hidden.

Disable code folding outline

You can disable the code folding outline that appears on the gutter.

Clear the Show code folding outline checkbox.

PyCharm keyboard shortcuts

PyCharm has keyboard shortcuts for most of its commands related to editing, navigation, refactoring, debugging, and other tasks. Memorizing these hotkeys can help you stay more productive by keeping your hands on the keyboard. All default shortcuts are configurable and you can also assign shortcuts to any action that does not have them by default.

If your keyboard does not have an English layout, PyCharm may not detect all the shortcuts correctly.

The following table lists some of the most useful shortcuts to learn:

Quickly find any file, action, class, symbol, tool window, or setting in PyCharm, in your project, and in the current Git repository.

Find a command and execute it, open a tool window, or search for a setting.

Quick-fixes for highlighted errors and warnings, intention actions for improving and optimizing your code.

Jump to the next or previous highlighted error.

Select a recently opened file from the list.

Increase or decrease the scope of selection according to specific code constructs.

Comment out a line or block of code.

Show all places where a code element is used across your project.

Choose the right keymap

Enable function keys and check for possible conflicts with global OS shortcuts.

Use a predefined keymap

PyCharm automatically suggests a predefined keymap based on your environment. Make sure that it matches the OS you are using or select the one that matches shortcuts from another IDE or editor you are used to (for example, Emacs).

When consulting this page and other pages in PyCharm documentation, you can see keyboard shortcuts for the keymap that you use in the IDE — choose it using the selector at the top of a page.

Install a keymap from a plugin

Tune your keymap

You can modify a copy of any predefined keymap to assign your own shortcuts for commands that you use frequently.

Import custom keymap

If you have a customized keymap that you are used to, you can transfer it to your installation.

If your keymap stopped working after an update, it is likely that the keymap is not available by default in the new version of PyCharm. Find this keymap as a plugin and install it on the Plugins page as described inInstall plugins.

Print your keymap

If you prefer a hard copy, download the default PyCharm keymap reference and print it out as a card:

Learn shortcuts as you work

PyCharm provides several possibilities to learn shortcuts:

PyCharm includes a built-in IDE Features Trainer. It provides interactive training courses to help you learn how to do some common tasks, such as refactoring code, navigating through projects, debugging, and working with version control.

Make sure the IDE Features Trainer plugin is enabled in the Installed tab of the Plugins page in the IDE settings.

To open the Learn tool window and start your exercises, select View | Tool Windows | Learn or Help | Learn IDE Features from the main menu. The tool window lists the available tutorials.

Find Action lets you search for commands and settings across all menus and tools.

Press Ctrl+Shift+A and start typing to get a list of suggested actions. Then select the necessary action and press Enter to execute it.

To add or change the shortcut for any action, press Alt+Enter when it is selected in the list.

Key Promoter X is a plugin that shows a popup notification with the corresponding keyboard shortcut whenever a command is executed using the mouse. It also suggests creating a shortcut for commands that are executed frequently.

To print a non-default or customized keymap, use the Keymap exporter plugin.

Use advanced features

You can further improve your productivity with the following useful features:

If there is a group of actions that you often use, create a quick list to access them using a custom shortcut. For example, you can try using the following predefined quick lists:

Refactor this Ctrl+Alt+Shift+T

VCS Operations Alt+`

When the focus is on a tool window with a tree, list, or table, start typing to see matching items.

Some actions in PyCharm provide more results when you execute them multiple times. For example, when you invoke basic code completion with Ctrl+Space on a part of a field, parameter, or variable declaration, it suggests names depending on the item type within the current scope. If you invoke it again, it will include classes available through module dependencies. When invoked for the third time in a row, the list of suggestions will include the whole project.

Resize tool windows

You can adjust the size of tool windows without a mouse:

To resize a vertical tool window, press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Left and Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Right

To resize a horizontal tool window, press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Up and Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Down

Python Multiline Comments Or How To Comment Multiple Lines

Python has several ways to comment multiple lines in Python. One option is to add # at the start of each line. PEP 8 and bigger part of the community prefers to comment out like:

Both examples have valid syntax in Python.

How to comment out multiple lines in Python

Python multiline comment would look like to:

This is the default comment for most popular Python IDEs like PyCharm, Sublime, VS code.

Python multiline comments and docstrings

Guido van Rossum (the Python creator, Python BDFL) tweeted once a «pro tip» for Python multiline comments:

According to this tip you can do comments in this way:

What is a docstring? The first statement in a class, method, function or module definition which is a string is called a docstring. Example:

Note 1: Even if a docstring contains only one line, triple quotes should be used because it’s easier to expand it in future.

Note 2: For one liners it is recommended the quotes to be on the same line as the comment.

Multiline docstrings example

Descriptive multiline docstrings help for understanding and maintaining the code. Here you can find an example for such:

Many projects and organizations are using this kind of comments when they want to have good documentation.

The example image below multiline commend and docstring:

Shortcuts to comment multiple lines in Python and most popular IDEs

For commenting several lines in most popular IDEs you can use next shortcuts.

First you need to select the lines and then press:

Note: If you like to add a multiline docstring than you can use different combination:

PyCharm comment multiple lines

Pycharm comment shortcut

The shortcut to comment multiple lines in Python and PyCharm are:

Pycharm comment out multiple lines

To comment several lines of code in the Pycharm follow next steps:

Pycharm uncomment multiple lines

To uncomment commented lines in PyCharm you can do it by the same steps as commenting:

Note: If you try to comment mixed lines code and comments then

Python remove all comments from a project with regex finders

You can delete all Python comments from your Python project by(in Pycharm):

How to Comment Out a Block of Code in Python?

Table of Contents

Problem Formulation

Python has two ways to comment out a block of code:

You can see both examples here:

Solution Overview Table

So, how to comment out a block of Python code?

Have a look at the following table that showcases the shortcut to toggle block comments for a given selection of text:

Let’s dive into the most popular editors one-by-one.

PyCharm

PyCharm is one of the most popular Python editors. Do you want to become a PyCharm wizard and boost your coding productivity in Python? Check out our Finxter Academy course here:

Here’s a screenshot of my PyCharm editor with some basic code:

To block-comment these three lines in PyCharm, select them with your mouse and hit CTRL + / for a standard English keyboard layout:

If you don’t like this menu-based approach, you can simply redefine the keyboard shortcuts as described here.

To uncomment the block, just apply the same procedure again, i.e., either by shortcut or by menu selection, applying CTRL + / to toggle the block comment.

Notepad++

After choosing your programming language to Python, Notepad++ automatically highlights the code in the editor.

If you want to boost your Python skills, feel free to download your cheat sheets and join the free email academy here:

While working as a researcher in distributed systems, Dr. Christian Mayer found his love for teaching computer science students.

To help students reach higher levels of Python success, he founded the programming education website Finxter.com. He’s author of the popular programming book Python One-Liners (NoStarch 2020), coauthor of the Coffee Break Python series of self-published books, computer science enthusiast, freelancer, and owner of one of the top 10 largest Python blogs worldwide.

His passions are writing, reading, and coding. But his greatest passion is to serve aspiring coders through Finxter and help them to boost their skills. You can join his free email academy here.

Shortcut to comment out multiple lines in Python

Author: Aditya Raj
Last Updated: April 13, 2021

We often need to comment out block of codes in python while testing or debugging the code. When a block is turned into a python comment, it doesn’t contribute in output of the program and helps to determine which function or block is generating error in the program. In this article, we will look at some shortcut to comment out multiple lines of code at once in different python IDEs. Lets see examples for each IDE one by one.

Shortcut to comment out multiple lines in Spyder

After pressing ctrl+1 :

The shortcut to comment out multiple lines of code in spyder IDE is to first select all the lines which need to be commented out and then the key combination ctrl+4 is pressed. This turns the entire selected lines into a python comment as shown below.

After pressing ctrl+4:

We can also use ctrl+1 to uncomment the lines after selecting them when they are commented out or comment out the lines after selecting them to comment them out. In some versions of Spyder ctrl+5 can be used to uncomment the lines of code.

Shortcut to comment out multiple lines in IDLE

To comment out a block of code in IDLE, we have to first select the line and then press the key combination ctrl+D. This will comment out the selected lines of code as shown below.

After pressing ctrl+D :

Shortcut to comment out multiple lines in Jupyter Notebook

We can use ctrl+/ to comment out the selected lines of python code in Jupyter Notebook. This turns selected lines of code into comment as shown below.

After pressing ctrl+/ :

Comment out multiple lines in Pycharm

Conclusion

In this article, we have seen shortcuts to comment out multiple lines at once in python different IDEs like spyder, IDLE, Jupyter Notebook and PyCharm. Stay tuned for more informative articles.

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