File nesting rules

Last modified: 11 February 2024

Project tool window | | File Nesting

You can configure presentation of files with the same names but different suffixes.

Such bunches of files may appear in framework-specific projects, for example, if you use Angular.

IntelliJ IDEA can present such file bunches as plain structures or show parent files as folders (nests) with their child files inside.

File nesting rules applied vs file nesting rules not applied

Configure file nesting

  1. In the Project tool window (), click and select File Nesting.

    A dialog opens in which you can configure file nesting rules.

  2. Enable the Show files with the same names as nested option to recognize child files based on the patterns from the list and display them grouped under the corresponding parents.

    Otherwise, IntelliJ IDEA shows parents and children at the same level.

  3. Configure nesting rules. You can edit predefined rules or specify new ones: click the Add button and specify suffixes of parent and child files.

    the File Nesting dialog

  4. Click OK.

note

Nesting rules apply only to the files with the same names within the same directory.

If the names of two files match a pattern but the files are stored in different directories, IntelliJ IDEA does not visually "move" any of them.