How to make CTRL + / toggle a comment in Visual Studio

Question

How can I make CTRL + / toggle a comment in Visual Studio, as it does with XCode and Eclipse?

score 56 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 14 '13 at 16:23

You can't make it toggle without going into either a macro or other VS extension.

However, I always setup VS to comment with Ctrl + / and uncomment to Ctrl + Shift + /

You can customize the keyboard shortcuts by going int the "Tools" menu and selecting "Options". Then select "Keyboard" from the "Environment" branch. From there you can bind the Edit.CommentSelection and Edit.UncommentSelection commands to whichever keyboard shortcuts you'd like.

This should be the accepted answer, and still works in Aug 2020 — olonge, Aug 29 '20 at 20:18

score 48 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 10 '17 at 17:10

48

Here is a plugin to have the almighty "Toggle Comment" command...

1- Download and Install > https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=munyabe.ToggleComment

2- Restart VS

3- Go to "Tools > Options... > Environment > Keyboard"

4- Search for the command "ToggleComment" & Bind it to your favorite key

5- Enjoy

(Thank you, I had gave up but finally found this easy way to do it ;D)

answered Jan 10 '17 at 17:10

zcharles

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Doesn't work in 2019 – IC_ May 31 '20 at 09:40
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The secret to making this work was selecting `TextEditor` rather than `global` before pressing `Assign`. – Gulzar Jul 16 '20 at 12:53
@Herrgott Support for 2019 was _supposedly_ added in v1.8 – otoomey Aug 02 '20 at 22:41
@Gulzar confirmed, but what a stupid solution – mjr Aug 07 '20 at 15:55

dibarbet · Accepted Answer · 2020-10-29T23:31:59.907

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Toggle single line comment and toggle block comment commands have been added in VS 2019 for C#

You can change the shortcut for these commands to whatever you want in Tools -> Options -> Environment -> Keyboard, search for Edit.ToggleBlockComment or Edit.ToggleLineComment.

edited Oct 29 '20 at 23:31

answered Jun 05 '19 at 00:28

dibarbet

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Oddly, they do not work, not even the defaults, in VS 16.2.2. The error "`The key combination (Ctrl-K, Ctrl-/) is bound to command (Toggle Line Comment) which is not currently available.`" appears at the bottom in the status bar for the default keystrokes, and it doesn't even do that much if you use a custom one. For now, I'll be giving the "Toggle Comment" plugin a try. – MartyMacGyver Aug 19 '19 at 06:03
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This did work for me and if you have VS 2019 is the best solution, actually, is THE solution. VS 12.2.5 – Norcino Oct 04 '19 at 14:44
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this should be the contemporary answer for VS 2019. – orion elenzil Oct 28 '20 at 18:33
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@orionelenzil Done :) – Marc Jun 21 '21 at 15:57
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This still works in VS 2022. It's insane that this isn't a default yet. – JD Byrnes Feb 06 '22 at 06:47
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I also had to set `Use new shortcut in:` to `Text Editor` – MohammadHossein R Apr 13 '22 at 11:03
Get this to the top: In C#, Ctrl+k creates breakpoints: breakpoints don't respond to `Edit.ToggleBlockComment` or Ctrl+/. – Wolfpack'08 Sep 01 '22 at 09:51
For me VS2022 this method works for any shortcut key I tried EXCEPT for control+/ ... this may be something to do with having resharper installed. – Obbles Oct 06 '22 at 04:17
Sorry, an update...setting the shortcut globally was finicky (only worked on some shortcuy combinations). It has to be set on TEXTEDITOR. Then it appears to work on any combination. Nothing to do with resharper. – Obbles Oct 06 '22 at 04:31
@MartyMacGyver in `Visual studio 2022` you also need to install the `workload for ASP.net and Webdevelopment` to use those shortcut keys. I've posted an answer about this below. – Maurice Oct 13 '22 at 21:37

score 28 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 05 '15 at 19:57

28

If you have ReSharper installed (and using VS without it is/was tedious), you can assign a single key to the command ReSharper.ReSharper_LineComment.

For instance, I bind the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-K, Ctrl-C to the command, and then if I use it on a line that is uncommented, it comments it, and if the line is commented, it will uncomment it.

enter image description here

answered Jan 05 '15 at 19:57

Joshua Ball

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so to directly answer the original question, assign `CTRL + /` to `ReSharper.ReSharper_LineComment` – Chin Mar 09 '16 at 01:59
You can also create custom shortcuts using above procedure by placing keys inside 'Press shortcuts keys', step by step procedure here: https://qawithexperts.com/article/c-sharp/useful-visual-studio-shortcuts-comment-remove-comment-collap/309 – Vikas Lalwani Jul 31 '21 at 08:41

score 8 · Answer 5 · edited Feb 12 '20 at 15:32

8

Apparently, VS2019 has finally introduced alternative keyboard mapping schemes. They're available at Options -> Environment -> Keyboard. I've been looking for a solution for toggle comment shortcut problem and I got a whole surprise package. This is more than I wanted.

Keyboard mapping options in vs

edited Feb 12 '20 at 15:32

Burgi

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answered Feb 12 '20 at 15:26

cwiartek

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The Visual Studio Code mappings are indeed the best way to go about this! – Chris Dec 11 '22 at 08:03

Brad Patton · Answer 6 · 2013-02-14T16:45:47.343

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Ctrl-K and Ctrl-C will comment one or more selected lines.

Ctrl-K and Ctrl-U will uncomment one or more selected lines.

You can get toolbar icons that will do this by adding the "Text Editor" toolbar. In the toolbar area right-click and select "Text Editor" This will add a strip of icon buttons like this:

enter image description here

You can customize this strip by selecting the dropdown at the end of the ribbon:

enter image description here

To edit the keyboard combination go to Tools-Options and select Keyboard under the Environment tree. Here you can change the keys used to trigger the Comment and Uncomment actions:

enter image description here

edited Feb 14 '13 at 16:45

answered Feb 14 '13 at 16:23

Brad Patton

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In a default install this shortcut will just comment, not uncomment. – heavyd Feb 14 '13 at 16:28
Clarified key combinations – Brad Patton Feb 14 '13 at 16:39
Edit.CommentSelection doesn't show up in VisualStudio 2015 community edition. – allan ruin Jul 30 '15 at 14:53

score 1 · Answer 7 · edited Jun 05 '19 at 06:08

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If you're using Resharper, there is an almost identical alternative:

Right Alt+/

By using this single shortcut, you can simply toggle between commenting/uncommenting code.

edited Jun 05 '19 at 06:08

phuclv

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answered Dec 07 '16 at 14:40

Teodor Tite

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score 1 · Answer 8 · answered Sep 03 '20 at 20:55

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In Visual Studio Code 2019, this can be done by:

Enter hotkeys in the IDE search field and click Change hotkeys and keyboard shortcuts.
In Show commands containing, search for and select EditorContextMenus.CodeWindow.GenerateDocumentationComments.
Click Remove on the right side of Shortcuts for selected command, where ctrl+/ is currently selected.
In Show commands containing, search for and select Edit.ToggleLineComments.
Click the Press shortcut keys box and press ctrl + /.
Click Assign to assign the new hotkey.

Note that unbinding the already existing function for ctrl + / is necessary for this to work.

answered Sep 03 '20 at 20:55

Pieter12345

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Steps 1-3 are sufficient in latest VS2019, which has `ctrl` + `/` as the Global default for `Edit.ToggleLineComments`. – victorlin Nov 18 '20 at 15:56
In Visual Studio 2022, ` /` was not a Global Default. – George 2.0 Hope Feb 22 '22 at 18:50

Maurice · Answer 9 · 2022-10-13T21:47:22.090

In Visual studio 2022 you also need to install the workload for ASP.NET and webdevelopment if you want to use the shortcut for Edit.ToggleBlockComment, as is explained here. If this workload is not installed then pressing CTRL + K will generate an error message in the bottom left of the IDE that says something like The key combination (Ctrl-K, ....) is bound to command (....) which is not currently available.

You can search for the required workload by entering web workload in the searchbar at the top of the IDE. The workload should pop up as a search suggestion. To install this workload you need 2 GB of free diskspace on your computer. Alternatively you can also install the workload with the Visual studio installer app. You can easily find and open this app using the search bar of windows. Once the app has started click on Modify. Then under the tab Workloads select the workload ASP.net and web development and press Modify in the bottom right. Visual studio needs to be closed before you can start the workload installation.

When you've installed the workload for webdevelopment in ASP.NET, Javascript/HTML the shortcuts should work. You can change the shortcut of Edit.ToggleBlockComment to CTRL + / by going to Tools > Options > Environment > Keyboard where you can assign the shortcut. You can leave the Use new shortcut in field on Global. After that you can use CTRL+/ to both comment as well as uncomment a line of code.

score 0 · Answer 10 · edited Jun 12 '20 at 13:48

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I don't know if it is the same in 2012 but in 2015 you can.

Go to Tools > Options > Environment > Keyboard

Either, find "VisualD.ToggleCommentSelection" or
Search for "comment" and the bottom option should be "VisualD.ToggleCommentSelection"

Snip showing how to set toggle comment shortcut.

edited Jun 12 '20 at 13:48

Community

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answered Mar 23 '17 at 19:35

Lupus Ossorum

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score 0 · Answer 11 · answered Sep 14 '20 at 12:25

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In visual studio 2019 this works by default using Ctrl + K and then Ctrl + /

answered Sep 14 '20 at 12:25

Thirler

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How to make CTRL + / toggle a comment in Visual Studio

11 Answers11