Software Development

Visual Studio Code Tips and Tricks for PHP and Laravel

Here are some of the most used key combinations and plugins we like for Visual Studio Code

Table of Contents

Collapse Outline

<Ctrl> + <LeftArrow> will collapse the entire list making browsing so much easier.

How to remove extra line breaks

The key to removing line breaks is mastering Visual Studio’s search / replace box. Once you have opened the box wit Ctrl+h, then you must switch to regular expression with Alt+r. It’s best to experiment because different use cases present different solutions. For example, you could try these regular expressions:

$\n+

replace with

Multiple Cursors

Probably one of the most useful used shortcuts for web design. Please ESCAPE when done not ENTER.

Choose Next In Selection

Ctrl + D

Everything in Selection

You can add additional cursors to all occurrences of the current selection with Ctrl+Shift+L.

Do your thing then press ESCAPE, not ENTER.

Reference Editing Hacks: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/getstarted/tips-and-tricks

Generate TOC

Install Markdown All in One. This pretty much takes care of automatically table of contents if the markdown is structured like this:

- [Filament AdminPanelProvder](#filament-adminpanelprovder)
- [Tenant Model](#tenant-model)
# Filament AdminPanelProvder
```php
->tenant(Tenant::class)
```

# Tenant Model
```php
class Tenant extends Model
```

Run command “Create Table of Contents” (in the VS Code Command Palette) to insert a new table of contents.

Close All Files

Ctrl+K W

Duplicate Line

Ctrl+C + Ctrl+V on empty line

Import a class file

Alt Ctrl+I (I for India)

As of 11 January 2025, that shortcut doesn’t work on a Mac. I tried various other “google searches” but it didn’t find anything. Ironically, I went over to installing PHP Intelephense which apparently has a premium feature that will help. This helped, because now all of a sudden it picked up that the class file has an issue.

But before I even contemplated looking for a new shortcut, GitHub Copilot helped me out.

Quickly Jump to Any File

Ctrl+P allows you to search for any file

Align Equals Signs

Use the Better Align plugin, then invoke “Align” on the command palette

Invoke the Command Palette

Ctrl+Shift+P

Format the Document (and fix indentation)

Ctrl+Shift+i (control-shift-i for India). This doesn’t work on Mac after Copilot is installed because it bring up Copilit.

So use Shift Option F

Refactor Code Block

In our experience this is document for Visual Studio code but doesn’t work as well as PHPStorm. Install this plugin:
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=marsl.vscode-php-refactoring

The official documentation is here:
https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/editor/refactoring

And refers to a PHP plugin we don’t use (it has a poor rating):
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=felixfbecker.php-intellisense

Other Plugins

GitHub Pull Requests by GitHub
DotENV by mikestead
Laravel Extension Pack by Winnie Lin
Laravel Snippets by Winnie Lin
PHP Debug by Xdebug
PHP Intelephense by Ben Mewburn
YAML
Better PHPUnit by calebporzio
DevDb by Damilola Olowookere
EditorConfig for VS Code by EditorConfig
Git Graph by mhutchie
GitHub Actions by GitHub
GitHub Copilot by GitHub
GitHub Copilot Chat by GitHub
Jira and Bitbucket(Atlassian Labs) by Atlassian
Laravel Artisan by Ryan Naddy
Laravel Blade formatter by Shuhei Hayashibara
Laravel Blade Snippets by Winnie Lin
Laravel Blade Wrapper
Laravel Create View
Laravel Extra Intellisense
Laravel goto view
laravel-goto-components
laravel-jump-controller
PDF Preview
php cs fixer
PHP Namespace Resolver
rust-analyzer
Tailwind CSS IntelliSense
Vue – Official
WakaTime
XML Tools

You start small and then you end up with a great big mess.

All we really need is:

WakaTime
Laravel (Official)
GitHub Copilot (which also installs GitHub Copilot Chat)
Tailwind CSS IntelliSense

Our remaining problem when using Laravel is that we cannot refactor easily (or at all!) as we can in PhpStorm, but this problem will also be overcome.