Multi-File Editing

Estimated time: 20 minutes

Overview

Questions

• How do I work with multiple files at once?
• How do I search and replace across my project?

Objectives

• Use tabs and split editor for side-by-side editing
• Search and replace within a file and across all files
• Compare two files side-by-side with diff view
• Manage project folder structure from VS Code

Working with Tabs

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Each open file appears as a tab at the top of the editor:

|  script.py  |  data.csv  |  README.md  |

• Click a tab to switch files
• Click the X on a tab to close it
• Use Ctrl+Tab to cycle through open files

Split Editor View

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For side-by-side editing, press Ctrl+\ (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+\ (Mac):

|  script.py  |        |  analysis.py  |
─────────────────────────────────────────
# script.py content   # analysis.py content

You can have up to four splits. Drag tabs between splits to rearrange.

Searching and Replacing

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In the current file

• Ctrl+F (Cmd+F): Find – matches highlight in yellow
• Ctrl+H (Cmd+H): Find and Replace – replace one or all matches

Across all files in your project

• Ctrl+Shift+F (Cmd+Shift+F): Search across all files in the open folder
• Ctrl+Shift+H (Cmd+Shift+H): Search and replace across all files

Click any result to jump directly to that file and line.

Comparing Files

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1. Open both files
2. Right-click one file tab > Compare with…
3. Select the other file

Differences display side-by-side: green for added lines, red for removed, and orange for modified lines.

The diff view comparing two Python files — removed line red on the left, added line green on the right.

File Management

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From the Explorer sidebar you can:

• Create folders: Right-click > New Folder
• Rename: Right-click > Rename
• Delete: Right-click > Delete (permanent on the remote system)
• Move: Drag files between folders

Keyboard Shortcuts Reference

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Action	Windows/Linux	Mac
Quick Open	Ctrl+P	Cmd+P
Find in file	Ctrl+F	Cmd+F
Find/Replace in file	Ctrl+H	Cmd+H
Find in all files	Ctrl+Shift+F	Cmd+Shift+F
Split editor	Ctrl+\	Cmd+\
Close file	Ctrl+W	Cmd+W
Go to line	Ctrl+G	Ctrl+G

Challenge

Challenge: Side-by-Side Editing and Search

1. Create a file utilities.py with:

   PYTHON

   def greet(name):
       """Greet someone."""
       return f"Hello, {name}!"

2. Open both hello_world.py and utilities.py in split view (Ctrl+\)

3. Use Ctrl+Shift+H to replace “Hello” with “Greetings” across all files

4. Undo with Ctrl+Z in each file

Show me the solution

After splitting, two editor panes appear side by side. Both files have Python syntax highlighting. Using Ctrl+Shift+H opens the sidebar search-and-replace which operates across all files in the workspace. After “Replace All,” every instance of “Hello” changes to “Greetings”. Use Ctrl+Z in each file to undo – each file tracks its own undo history independently.

Key Points

• Open files appear as tabs; use Ctrl+Tab to switch between them
• Split editor (Ctrl+\) enables side-by-side editing of two or more files
• Ctrl+F searches the current file; Ctrl+Shift+F searches across all files
• Compare files with right-click > Compare to see color-coded differences
• Manage folders and files directly from the Explorer sidebar