VS Code setup for C++ on Windows

• Prerequisite
  • Install VSCode on Windows
  • Install C++ Compiler - MINGW
• Keyboard shortcuts
• Extensions
• Misc
• References

Prerequisite to write, build and run a C++ program

Since visual studio code is just a source code editor for multiple language including C++. We need below things to setup a good C++ dev environment.

• Install VS Code for windows
• C++ specific formatter which helps while we write code. VS code provides various extensions to help in this such as C/C++ Extensions by Microsoft
• C++ Compiler(such as mingw) to be used for code compilation

Install VSCode on Windows

Go to VS Code download page and download vscode for Windows and install by double clicking the downloaded installer and following installation steps.

Install C++ Compiler - MINGW

Please do check if MINGW is already installed on your system by running

g++ --verison 

on PowerShell or Command prompt and verify

-> Dont look it in 'Program Files' folder since generally MINGW is installed using copy/paste way and it is copied in C:\MINGW or similar. Even if it is installed using installer it copies at C:\MINGW only. You can also check environment path where it might have been added if it was installed earlier

Now we are ready :)

Now we have editor and compiler, let us write our code, compile, debug and run.

Write Code

VS Code provides various extensions to help with intelligence, indentation, static analysis, formatting etc.

You can open visual studio code extension using [ctrl + shift + x] or View->Extensions. Just for begining, Search for C/C++ extension from Microsoft and install it from vs code itself.

Go to Command Pallete (Ctrl + Shift + P) and select C/C++: Edit Configurations to Add dependent includePath and library path in C_CPP_Properties.json

Build Code

Go to Command Pallete (Ctrl + Shift + P) and select Task: Configure Task to create/modify task.json to configure compiler path, command etc

Launch Code - Debug/Run

Go to Run and Debug in left side bar (Ctrl + Shift + D) and configure program to run and other dependencies by editing launch.json

Please note above build/launch would be created for selected file only therefore make sure .cpp is selected. Also you can compile/run the code using g++ compilation command such as g++ -g -o and run from command line

Go to MINGW download page and download vscode for Windows and install by double clicking the downloaded installer and following installation steps. which will copy mingw installation files at C:\MINGW or C:\MINGW64. Add it to PATH by editing environment variables.

..and these below items really help

keyboard Shortcuts

• Copy path of active file : Ctrl+K P

• Reveal active file in File Explorer : Ctrl+K R

• Show active file in new window/instance : Ctrl+K O

• Show preview for markdown : Ctrl + K, V

• Show hover : Ctrl+K Ctrl+I

• Toggle Panel(Terminal etc) : Ctrl + J

• Toggle Sidebar(Explorer bar etc) : Ctrl + B

• Explorer Bar : ctrl + shift + E

• Select Color Theme : Ctrl K + Ctrl T

• Extension explorer : ctrl + shift + x

• Preference(command palette) : ctrl + shift + p

• Keyboard Binding : Ctrl + k + s

• Open/Goto file : ctrl + p

• Select current line : Ctrl+L

• Line up/Down : ALt + Up/Down

• Delete Line : Ctrl + shift + k

• Go to Line number : Ctrl+G

• Select all occurrences of current selection : Ctrl+Shift+L

• Go to Definition : F12

• Peek Definition : Alt+F12

• Open Definition to the side : Ctrl+K F12

• Show References : Shift+F12

• Run - Ctrl + Shift + D

• Go back / forward : Alt+ ← / →

• Select all occurences of Find match : Alt+Enter

• Select all occurrences of current word : Ctrl+F2

• Toggle case-sensitive / regex / whole word : Alt+C / R / W

• Insert line below : Ctrl+Enter

• Insert line above : Ctrl+Shift+Enter

• Scroll page up/down : Alt+PgUp / PgDn

• Add line comment : Ctrl+K Ctrl+C

• Remove line comment : Ctrl+K Ctrl+U

• Trigger suggestion : Ctrl+Space

• Trigger parameter hints : Ctrl+Shift+Space

• Format document : Shift+Alt+F

• Format selection : Ctrl+K Ctrl+F

• Quick Fix : Ctrl+.

• Toggle word wrap : Alt+Z

• Focus into 1st, 2nd or 3rd editor group : Ctrl+ 1 / 2 / 3

VSCode Extensions

• Python, C/C++, Docker by Microsoft
• GitLens by EricAmodio
• Zuul Job Browser
• Pylance by Microsoft

Misc

Ctrl + M : Toggle Use of Tab Key for Setting Focus/and entring space

References

https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/cpp/config-mingw

https://gourav.io/blog/setup-vscode-to-run-debug-c-cpp-code

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIw02CaEusY

https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/editor/variables-reference