Visual C++ code snippets

Article
11/04/2016

Applies to: Visual Studio Visual Studio for Mac

Note

This article applies to Visual Studio 2017. If you're looking for the latest Visual Studio documentation, see Visual Studio documentation. We recommend upgrading to the latest version of Visual Studio. Download it here

In Visual Studio, you can use code snippets to add commonly-used code to your C++ code files. In general, you can use code snippets in much the same way as in C#, but the set of default code snippets is different.

You can either add a code snippet at a particular location in your code (insertion) or surround some selected code with a code snippet.

Insert a code snippet

To insert a code snippet, open a C++ code file (.cpp or .h), click somewhere inside the file, and do one of the following:

Right-click to get the context menu and select Insert Snippet
In the Edit / IntelliSense menu, select Insert Snippet
Use the hotkeys: Ctrl+K+X

You should see a list of choices beginning with #if. When you select #if, you should see the following code added to the file:

#if 0

#endif // 0

You can then replace the 0 with the correct condition.

Use a code snippet to surround selected code

To use a code snippet to surround selected code, select a line (or multiple lines) and do one of the following:

Right-click to get the context menu, and select Surround With
From the Edit > IntelliSense menu, select Surround With
Using a keyboard, press: Ctrl+K+S

Select #if. You should see something like this:

#if 0
#include "pch.h"  // or whatever line you had selected
#endif // 0

You can then replace the 0 with the correct condition.

Where can I find a complete list of the C++ code snippets?

You can find the complete list of C++ code snippets by going to the Code Snippets Manager (on the Tools menu) and setting the Language to Visual C++. In the window below, expand Visual C++. You should see the names of all the C++ code snippets in alphabetical order.

The names of most code snippets are self-explanatory, but some names might be confusing.

Class vs. classi

The class snippet provides the definition of a class named MyClass, with the appropriate default constructor and destructor, where the definitions of the constructor and destructor are located outside the class:

class MyClass
{
public:
    MyClass();
    ~MyClass();

private:

};

MyClass::MyClass()
{
}

MyClass::~MyClass()
{
}

The classi code snippet also provides the definition of a class named MyClass, but the default constructor and destructor are defined inside the class definition:

class MyClass
{
public:
    MyClass()
    {
    }

    ~MyClass()
    {
    }

private:

};

for vs. forr vs rfor

There are three different for snippets that provide different kinds of for loops.

The rfor snippet provides a range-based for loop (link). This construct is preferred over index-based for loops.

for (auto& i : v)
{

}

The for snippet provides a for loop in which the condition is based on the length (in size_t) of an object.

for (size_t i = 0; i < length; i++)
{

}

The forr snippet provides a reverse for loop in which the condition is based on the length (in integers) of an object.

for (int i = length - 1; i >= 0; i--)
{

}

The destructor snippet (~)

The destructor snippet (~) shows different behavior in different contexts. If you insert this snippet inside a class, it provides a destructor for that class. For example, given the following code:

class SomeClass {

};

If you insert the destructor snippet, it provides a destructor for SomeClass:

class SomeClass {
    ~SomeClass()
    {

    }
};

If you try to insert the destructor snippet outside a class, it provides a destructor with a placeholder name:

~TypeNamePlaceholder()
{

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