Tutorial: Creating and Applying Live Templates (Code Snippets)

1. Creating a stub live template

• Open the Settings/Preferences dialog ( on the main toolbar, or Ctrl+Alt+S), expand the Editor node, and click Live Templates:

  

• Click . First, choose Template Group... and specify its name (in our case, it is user). The created group gets the focus.

• Click again. This time, choose Live Template. The new template appears in the group that holds the focus, namely user.

What happens next?

• First, under the group user, there is a stub live template that by now is called <abbreviation>.

• Second, the fields for entering the template abbreviation, description, body text, and context appear:

2. Defining template abbreviation and context

So, let's enter the template abbreviation. In our example, we'll type the word class in the field Abbreviation, and then enter description (which is optional, but nevertheless...).

Next, let's select the context where the new template will apply. By now, you see that the context is not defined - so click the link Define, and select the context (in our case, this is Python). In the future, when the context is already defined, the link changes to Change.

The expansion key will be Tab, as specified by default.

3. Defining template text

Type the following code in the field Template text:

class $class$($object$):
    """$cls_doc$"""

    def __init__(self,$args$):
        """Constructor for $class$"""
$END$

The portions of a template text enclosed in $ signs are the template variables. You can easily tell them from the entire template text, since they stand out with color:

These template variables are void yet, so let's define them first... All, except one (wait a bit to learn why).

4. Editing template variables

Click the button Edit variables:

In the dialog Edit template variables, you see the list of all (but one!) variables:

For the variable $object$, let's define its default value object, and click OK:

5. Memorising the new live template

You only have to click OK In the Settings/Preferences dialog (Ctrl+Alt+S). The new live template (or a code snippet) that expands into a stub Python class is ready. Let's just put it to a test...

Example of sharing a template between different IDEs

Once created the user template in PyCharm you can reuse it for working with Python scripts in another IDE, for example, IntelliJ IDEA. All you need is to export PyCharm Live Template configuration and import it in IntelliJ IDEA.