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Opening, Closing, and Saving Files

Xcode gives you a number of ways to get to, and open, files in your project. This chapter describes how to open files in your preferred editor—by default, Xcode’s editor—and describes a number of shortcuts for opening files by name or from an open editor.

In this section:

Opening and Closing Files
Saving Files

Opening and Closing Files

There are many ways to open files in Xcode. From an open project, you can open any of your project files by clicking or double-clicking the file. Files open in the preferred editor for the file’s type. If this is Xcode’s editor, you have the option of opening file in a separate editor window or in the editor attached to most Xcode windows.

There are also many shortcuts for opening files. The Open Quickly command lets you type a path or filename to open a file. From an editor, you can open a file by name, jump to the header associated with an implementation file and vice versa, or jump to files included by the current file.

Opening Project Files

If you already have a project window open, you can open a file by selecting it in the Groups & Files list in the project window. If you have the editor open inside of the project window, a single click on the file name will open the file in the editor. Otherwise, double-clicking the file in the Groups & Files list opens the file in a separate editor window.

If the file’s name is in red, Xcode cannot find the file. Select the file, open the inspector, and click the Choose button next to Path in the General pane.

If you have a code editor open and you have previously opened the file, you can choose the file’s name from the pop-up menu that lists recently viewed files, in the navigation bar at the top of the code editor.

Opening Header Files and Other Related Files

You can quickly open a header or source file that’s related to the file displayed in the editor.

To open the related header for an implementation file open in the editor, and vice versa:

• Click the Go to Counterpart icon in the navigation bar of the code editor, as described in “The Navigation Bar”

• Choose View > Switch to Header/Source File.

For example, if main.c is in the editor, this opens main.h; if main.h is in the editor, it opens main.c.

You can also view all the files that the current file includes, as well as all the files that include the current file. To view the list of files that the file in the editor includes and that include this file, click the Included Files icon in the navigation bar of the code editor. A menu pops up with the name of the current file in the center. Above it are the names of the files that this file includes. Below it are the names of the files that include this file. To open one of the files, choose it from the menu.

Opening Files by Name or Path

In addition to shortcuts to open related files, Xcode also provides a shortcut that allows you to open files by name or path, without having to navigate to the file using the Open File dialog. To open a file by name, use one of the following shortcuts. You can open files using these shortcuts even if the file is not in your project.

• To open a file whose name appears in a code editor, select the name and choose File > Open Quickly.

• To open a file by typing its name, choose File > Open Quickly and enter the filename in the Path field.

Xcode first looks for the file in the current project and then searches a list of directories that it maintains for use with the Open Quickly command. A number of common directories—such as System/Library/Frameworks—are already included in this list by default. You can add your own commonly accessed directories to this list in the Opening Quickly pane of Xcode Preferences, described in “Opening Quickly Preferences.”

Open Quickly searches the directories in the order in which they appear in this pane. If Open Quickly doesn’t display the file you expected, check whether a file with the same name as the one you wish to open exists in your project or at a location higher up in the list of directories to search.

If you know the path to a file, you can also use the Open Quickly command to open the file, without adding a new directory to the list of search paths, by choosing File > Open Quickly and entering the path. For example, to open the file MyNotes.rtf located in your Documents folder you would type ~/Documents/MyNotes.rtf.

Closing Files

Files in a project remain open until you explicitly close the file or close the project. Open files in an editor appear in the pop-up menu of recently viewed files. To close a file, choose File > Close File filename.

Saving Files

Xcode indicates which files you’ve modified by highlighting their icons in gray in the Groups & Files list, detail view, and in the pop-up menu of recently viewed files. You can save your changes in a number of ways:

• To save changes to the current file, choose File > Save.

• To save a copy of a file, choose File > Save As. Xcode saves a copy of the file under the name you specify. If the file is part of your project, Xcode also changes the file reference in your project to refer to the copy.

• To make a backup of a file, hold the Option key and choose File > Save a Copy As. Xcode saves a copy of the file under the name you specify, but does not modify the file reference in your project, if one exists.

• To save all open files, choose File > Save All.

Xcode can also be configured to automatically save all changed files before beginning a build. To specify whether files are saved automatically when you build a target:

1. Choose Xcode > Preferences and click Building.

2. In the “For Unsaved Files” menu, choose Ask Before Building, Always Save, Never Save, or Cancel Build.

If you don’t have write permission for a file, Xcode warns you when you try to edit it. You can choose to edit such files, but you can save your changes only if you have write permission for the containing folder. In this case, you can choose whether Xcode changes the file’s permissions to make it writable.

To have Xcode change the file’s permissions, choose Xcode > Preferences, click Text Editing, and select “Save files as writable” in Save Options. Otherwise, Xcode preserves the file’s current permissions.

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