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I'd like to selectively disable the IntelliJ IDEA code formatter for a portion of code just like I can in Eclipse. Does IntelliJ support this feature, and if so, how do I use it?

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  • 1
    Official Documentation for skipping some part of the code using comments: jetbrains.com/help/idea/… Commented Jul 1, 2017 at 7:15
  • This feature should be definitively enabled by default! It would be nice Commented Dec 13, 2022 at 10:28

7 Answers 7

Reset to default
794

Since version 13 it's possible to wrap the code with

// @formatter:off
...
// @formatter:on

IntelliJ IDEA v.2018+:

File > Settings > Editor > Code Style

IntelliJ IDEA v.2016+:

Preferences > Editor > Code Style

IntelliJ IDEA v.14+:

Preferences > Editor > Code Style > Formatter Control

You can change the formatter control markers, as long as they're in comments.

Ensure formatter markers in comments are enabled, as shown in the following figure:

Formatter Control Preference

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10 Comments

Currently, @formatter:on (or whatever you define) does nothing unless @formatter:off was already present. There are likely other ways of turning off reformatting -- or getting the editor to not reformat your code automatically. Search your preferences. This setting is to control sections that shouldn't be reformatted when manually performing a "Reformat", for instance.
You must go to Preferences->Code Style->General->Formatter Control and check Enable formatter markers in comments for this to work.
In 14, this is in Preferences > Editor > Code Style > Formatter Control
In the 2016.x version it's found in Settings > Editor > Code Style.
Why does this option disabled by default? It seems very useful to put markers in the code and restrict formatting for the whole team.
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190

Note for Carlos' answer of @formatter:off and @formatter:on to work, you may need to enable the preference first:

In IntelliJ Preferences, under Code Style, General, Formatter Control there is a checkbox "Enable formatter markers in comments"

Discovered via How to config intellij-idea not format some part of the code?

IDEA-56995 Disabled code formatting per region using comments

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3 Comments

I want to disable this on entire project
Search preferences for "Reformat" to see checkboxes for quite a few of the ways IntelliJ reformats code automatically: on paste, on typing a closing brace, from templates... You can really dig in if you want to change the functionality. Not that it always makes sense. Use IntelliJ's support if asking a question, or their bug tracker if making a suggestion.
It's equally possible that enabling regular expressions, then using . as your formatter off instruction might work. So long as the first line in your file can be reformatted. No guarantees though. :)
37

In xml files, use:

<!-- @formatter:off -->
<!-- @formatter:on -->
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3 Comments

Doesn't work in xml files. Android Studio 3.4.1 based on Intelli-J.
It doesn't work in IntelliJ IntelliJ IDEA 2020.1.2 unless you enable then, in “File/Settings/Editor/Code Style“, in “Formatter Control” section.
Works in Rider.
9

Obsolete answer from 2010:

No, it's not possible right now, I've submitted a new issue which you can track.

As a temporary solution you can use external formatter plug-in for IDEA which can utilize Eclipse code formatter (I didn't check whether this particular option is supported).

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1

Personally, I use this live template for languages with C-style comments, to not having to type the markers out manually:

// @formatter:off
$SELECTION$
// @formatter:on

To install it, copy the code below, go to Settings -> Editor -> Live Templates, right click in the list and click Paste.

<template name="nofmt" value="// @formatter:off&#10;$SELECTION$&#10;// @formatter:on&#10;" description="Disable formatter for selection" toReformat="true" toShortenFQNames="true">
  <context>
    <option name="JAVA_CODE" value="true" />
    <option name="JAVA_SCRIPT" value="true" />
    <option name="KOTLIN" value="true" />
    <option name="RUST_FILE" value="true" />
    <option name="TypeScript" value="true" />
  </context>
</template>

To use it, select some code, press Ctrl + Alt + T ("Surround selection with ...") and choose nofmt.

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Comments

0

It's currently not possible to exclude entire files (like regression test data xmls) from formatting. See https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/IDEA-167112

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-1

A related question is how to stop IntelliJ formatting all files of a certain extension. I recently started using ktlint for my codebase and wanted IntelliJ to not interfere.

Using the ktlint IntelliJ plugin, I setup ktlint to run on any save in distract-free mode.

Under Tools -> Action on Save I modified the reformat code action to exclude Kotlin files.

Under Keymap, I modified the Reformat Code command to not use the hot key I normally use for saving (CMD-s).

Under Keymap, I modified the Save All command to have the hotkey CMD-s.

Current for IntelliJ 2023.3.3, Ktlint IntelliJ plugin 0.21.0

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