Select Next Occurrence

Download this extension from the VS Gallery

For version supporting 2017 and 2019, download here

---

This extension makes it possible to select multiple occurrences of a selected text for simultaneous editing with multiple cursors. Provides the most common multi-editing features.

Aims to replicate the multi-editing features of Sublime Text/Visual Studio Code for faster coding.

See the change log/roadmap for changes and Roadmap.

What differs this from the built-in multi-edit of VS 2019/2022?

| Feature | Select Next Occurrence | Visual Studio | | --- | --- | ---| | Multiple cursors | Yes | Yes | | Can undo cursor | Yes | Yes | | Can select all occurrences | Yes | Yes | | Can skip occurrence | Yes | Yes | | Can select backwards/up | Yes | No | | Can add caret above/below | Yes | Kind of, different implementation * | | Can add caret by mouse | Yes | Yes * | | Can convert selection to carets | Yes | No | | Can search both case insensitive and exact | Yes | No, only exact | | Multi copy/paste across files and to external programs | Yes | Yes * | | Supports VS 2022 | Yes | Yes | | Supports VS 2019 | Yes | Yes | | Supports VS 2017 | Yes | From v15.8 | | Multi-cursor IntelliSense | No | No |

* Unsure when

Features

• Select next occurrence of current selection
• Select next exact occurrence (overrides Find-dialog)
• Select previous occurrence
• Select previous exact occurrence (overrides Find-dialog)
• Select all occurrences
• Convert a selection into multiple cursors
• Skip occurrence
• Undo occurrence
• Add caret above/below
• Use multiple carets to edit
• Add carets by mouse-clicking, press ALT and click to add a new caret or to remove caret/selection at clicked position
• Copy/paste multiple selections, also to external programs

---

Options

• Toggle case-sensitive search by using the "Match case" setting from the find-dialog (Ctrl+F)

• Toggle match-whole word search by using the "Match whole word" setting from the find-dialog (Ctrl+F)

• Options-dialog: Add cursors by mouse-clicking - true by default

• Options-dialog: Keep caret on first entry - false by default, activates behaviour to keep caret on first entry when pressing escape

---

Key-bindings

Go to Tools -> Options -> Environment -> Keyboard and search for these command names to edit at your choice. Make sure the Use new shortcut in is set to: Text Editor

| Command (prefix SelectNextOccurrence.) | Recommendation | | :--- | :--- | | SelectNextOccurrence | Ctrl+D | | SelectNextExactOccurrence | | | SelectPreviousOccurrence | Ctrl+E | | SelectPreviousExactOccurrence | | | SelectAllOccurrences | Ctrl+K, Ctrl+A | | SkipOccurrence | Ctrl+K, Ctrl+D | | UndoOccurrence | Ctrl+U | | AddCaretAbove | Ctrl+Alt+Up | | AddCaretBelow | Ctrl+Alt+Down | | ConvertSelectionToMultipleCursors | Ctrl+Shift+I or Alt+Shift+I (vscode)) |

---

Troubleshooting

• Nothing happens when pressing assigned keys

Check that the key-bindings are correct and that the Use new shortcut in is set to: Text Editor.

• Nothing happens when ALT + left-clicking mouse button to add new caret, multiple edits are unresponsive

There is a possibility that other plugins use this functionality too, and a conflict occurs. Please check for other installed plugins with this feature and try to disable.

• Copy/cut multiple occurrences doesnt work as expected

There is a conflict with the extension Copy As Html, if you have this enabled, try to disable it and see if this helps.

---

Contribute

Check out the contribution guidelines if you want to contribute to this project.

License

Apache 2.0