Using NetBeans IDE on Mac OS X

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Using NetBeans IDE on Mac OS X

The following is an overview of useful information that we hope will help you to get NetBeans IDE up and running
in Mac OS X.

Training

System Requirements and Installation

For the minimum and recommended hardware configuration, see the NetBeans IDE 8.0 Release Notes.

Java Programming
Language

For Mac OS X installation instructions, see the NetBeans IDE 8.0 Installation Instructions for Mac OS X.

Issues and FAQs

See the following documents for Mac-related issues and FAQs.

Support
Oracle Development Tools
Support Offering for
NetBeans IDE

NetBeans IDE 8.0 Release Notes

Running NetBeans IDE on Mac OS X

Documentation

Shortcuts on Mac OS X

General Java Development

The IDE has a default set of keyboard shortcuts that you can use to invoke functions. In some cases, the default

Java GUI Applications

IDE shortcuts can conflict with default Mac OS shortcuts. In particular, some function keys used by the Mac OS

External Tools and Services

are known to conflict with some default IDE shortcuts. If you find that some keyboard shortcuts are not behaving

Java EE & Java Web

Development

as expected, you can modify the shortcut for a particular IDE function by choosing NetBeans > Preferences

Web Services Applications

(Cmd-,) from the main menu and clicking Keyboard in the Options window. You can modify the default Mac OS
shortcut by opening System Preferences and clicking Keyboard & Mouse. For more, see the Apple Help topic
Using function keys on portable computers.
For a list of NetBeans' Source Editor keyboard equivalents on Mac OS X, see the following table:

NetBeans Platform (RCP)

and Module Development
PHP and HTML5
Applications
C/C++ Applications
Mobile Applications

Scrolling and Selecting

Keys

Action

Cmd-[

Moves the insertion point to the highlighted matching bracket. Note that this

Sample Applications
Demos and Screencasts

shortcut only works when the insertion point is located immediately after the
opening bracket.
Cmd-Shift-[

Selects the block between a pair of brackets. Note that this shortcut only works

More

when the insertion point is located immediately after either the opening or

FAQs

closing bracket.

Contribute Documentation!

Ctrl-G

Jumps to any specified line.

Docs for Earlier Releases

Cmd-A

Selects all text in the file.

Modifying Text
Keys

Action

Cmd-Shift-J

Opens the Internationalize dialog box that you can use to insert an localized
string at the insertion point.

Code Folding

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Keys

Action

Cmd-Minus (-)

Collapses the block of code in which the insertion point is currently located.

Cmd-Plus (+)

Expands the block of code which is adjacent to the insertion point.

Cmd-Shift-Minus (-)

Collapses all blocks of code in the current file.

Cmd-Shift-Plus (+)

Expands all blocks of code in the current file.

Recording Macros
Keys

Action

Cmd-J then S

Initiates the recording of key sequences for a macro.

Cmd-J then E

Stops the recording of key sequence for a macro and opens the Recorded Macro
dialog enabling you to name the new macro.

Cutting, Copying, Pasting, and Deleting Text

Keys

Action

Cmd-Z

Undo. Reverses a series of editor actions one at a time (excluding Save).

Cmd-Y

Redo. Reverses a series of Undo commands one at a time.

Cmd-X

Cut. Deletes the current selection and places it on the clipboard.

Cmd-C

Copy. Copies the current selection to the clipboard.

Cmd-V

Paste. Pastes the contents of the clipbard at the insert point.

Delete

Delete. Deletes the current selection.

Cmd-E

Deletes the current line.

Cmd-K

Copies the word preceding the insertion point and then pastes it after the
insertion point (the insertion point must be in the whitespace preceeding or
following a word). Press K multiple times to cycle through preceding words in
succession.

Cmd-L

Copies the word following the insertion point and pastes it at the insertion point
(the insertion point must be located in the whitespace preceeding or following a
word.) Press L multiple times to cycle through consecutive following words.

Searching for Text

Keys

Action

Cmd-G

Selects the next occurrence of the word found during the search.

Cmd-Shift-G

Selects the previous occurrence of the word found during the search.

Cmd-F

Opens the Find dialog box.

Cmd-R

Opens the Find and Replace dialog box.

Setting Tabs

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Keys

Action

Tab

Shifts all text to the right of the insertion point one tab stop to the right.

Cmd-T

Shifts text in the line containing the insertion point to the right one tab stop.

Cmd-D

Shifts text in the line containing the insertion point to the left one tab stop.

Modifying Code
Keys

Action

Ctrl-Spacebar

Opens the Java code completion dialog box.

Shift-Enter

Enters the text that is selected in the code completion box into your file.

Ctrl-I

Opens the Insert Code pop-up menu.

Ctrl-Shift-I

Adds an import statement to the import section of the code when the cursor is
over the class name to be imported.

Shift-Spacebar

Adds a space without checking for abbreviations to expand.

Using Bookmarks
Keys

Action

Cmd-F2

Sets or unsets a bookmark at the current line.

F2

Goes to the next bookmark.

Note:
For a complete list of NetBeans IDE keyboard equivalents, check the Keyboard Shortcuts Card by choosing Help
> Keyboard Shortcuts Card. Alternately, you can reference the Keyboard Shortcuts section of the NetBeans IDE
built-in Help.
You can access the Options window on Mac OS X by selecting NetBeans > Preferences (-,) in the main menu.

Tips & Tricks

The following are some techniques you can use to get more out of NetBeans IDE on Mac OS X.
To emulate right mouse click behavior.
Use Ctrl-click by pressing and holding the Control button while clicking. Also see issue #32463 regarding
right-click emulation on multiple files.
To specify which JDK to run NetBeans on.
Use the --jdkhome <path> option when starting NetBeans. <path> is the root of the JDK installation. The
NetBeans installer looks for suitable JDK installations available on user's system and allows you to select
the one you want to run NetBeans on. However, the setting may become obsolete when the user installs
a new JDK later, or may be inconvenient if you want to run the IDE with another JDK. That's where the

--jdkhome switch comes in handy.

Note: If you want to set the <path> option permanently, you can do so in the netbeans.conf file as
described below.
To make custom startup parameters permanent.
If you want NetBeans to always start with specific options such as --userdir, --jdkhome, --fontsize, etc., so
that you don't have to type them on the command line at every launch, the most convenient way is to add

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your custom options directly to the NetBeans configuration (netbeans.conf) file.

To do this, Control-click the NetBeans application icon and choose Show Package Contents from the
contextual menu. In the Finder window that appears, navigate to the Contents/Resources

/NetBeans/etc/ directory, Control-click netbeans.conf, choose Open With from the contextual
menu, and select your preferred text editor. Then add the custom parameters you wish to use and save
your changes.
The netbeans.conf file can include the following entries:
netbeans_default_userdir: the default location and name of the userdir. Note that this entry is
only valid in the global configuration file. It cannot be redefined in the local netbeans.conf file,
because the launcher already needs to know the location of the userdir when the local
netbeans.conf file is being processed.
netbeans_default_options: any parameters passed to NetBeans or the JVM such as memory
configuration parameters, debugging options, --fontsize, various experimental switches, etc.
netbeans_jdkhome: the default location of the JDK to run NetBeans on. Note that this can be
overridden with the --jdkhome switch.

More Information
For more information, visit https://netbeans.org/.
You can also find news, articles, additional modules, and other useful information on the NetBeans project web
site. Since NetBeans is an open-source project, the web site also provides access to source code, a bug
database, information on creating your own NetBeans modules, and much more.

Feedback
If you encounter any Mac OS X-specific problems, please let us know by filing a bug, but don't forget to specify
that you are using the Mac OS X operating system.
You can also keep up to date on NetBeans IDE and interact with the NetBeans community by signing up for
NetBeans project mailing lists at https://netbeans.org/community/lists/.

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