Shortcuts/Snippets to select a block of code

Question

I am using SQL Server Management Studio 2016 on Windows 10. I'm tired of using shift/ctrl+up/down/right/left keys to select the code I want to run. I'm wondering whether there are shortcuts/snippets to select a block of code that separated from other code by blank lines?

Here is a code example:

select *
from tab1

select *
from tab2

select *
from tab3

Say, my cursor is inside the middle block and what's the best way to select the middle block?

Answer 1

I'm not affiliated to Red-Gate, but I would like to point out that if you hit Shift-F5, when you own a newish copy of SQL Prompt, then the query your cursor is on, will be marked green, and executed.

It has really saved me a lot of keystrokes.

Answer 2

One way to quickly select blocks of code within SSMS is to minimize the code using the - button next to the leading keyword in a SQL statement (e.g. SELECT, UPDATE, DELETE, WITH, etc.) then highlight that line and press F5 to execute it.

Depending on your version of SSMS (newer versions obviously being preferred in this case), there are also some keyboard shortcuts you can use to collapse/expand a section. The keyboard shortcut link provided by Simon Hellings' earlier response alludes to hotkeys already being set, but I cannot confirm they actually work. However, you can set some custom hotkeys to do this as follows:

1. The functions we're concerned with setting hotkeys for are found under the Edit -> Outlining Menu Options:

2. To set the hotkeys, navigate to Tools -> Options... -> Environment -> Keyboard -> Keyboard. Type in Outlin into the Show commands containing: box. Then assign a new shortcut key combinations for Edit.ToggleAllOutlining and Edit.ToggleOutliningExpansion and press Assign:

3. Now, check the shortcuts took after pressing Ok and your shortcut keys should work as expected. As you can see, I assigned mine to CTRL+ALT+Left Arrow and CTRL+ALT+Right Arrow, but you can use whatever you want:

Finally if this doesn't work, you may have to switch to a different SQL client. It sounds like the functionality you want is similar to executing an Oracle PL/SQL block via CTRL + ENTER within Oracle SQL Developer. You can use Oracle SQL Developer to connect to SQL Server using Third Party Database JDBC drivers (ref), but I don't recommend it.

Answer 3

Using Autohotkey, I was able to develop a solution to select a block of code and here is the script I have:

!b::

send ^f

sendraw ^\r$

send {F3}

send +{F3}

send {Esc}

send {down}

send ^{=}

return

Specifically, pressing Alt + B will invoke this script, and the script will select the block of code where the cursor is in. Note that the block of code has to be separated from other blocks of code by blank lines, and the block of code cannot have blank of lines inside itself.

The key steps of the about script are

• using regular expression "^\r$ " to locate the blank lines above and below the cursor

• moving the cursor to these two blank lines one by one

• using ctrl + = to select the block of code between these two blank lines.

Note that !/^/+ are alt/ctrl/shift separately.

Answer 4

Do not use the up/down/right/left keys at all to select your code to run.

Assuming that a computer mouse can be used, do this:

1. Use your computer's mouse to move the cursor to the first character to be included.
2. Next Hold down and continue holding down the Ctrl key, then move the mouse to include the last character to be included.
3. Continue holding the Ctrl key, then press the E key which will execute the highlighted text.

If you want to delete the code just executed, you should Continue holding the Ctrl key and then press the Delete key.

I suppose it is possible that someone has created a tool to do that automatically.

Answer 5

I don't think that this is possible. See complete list of default out of the box shortcuts here. You may be able to customize something from the tools --> options menu