Code folding is a feature of some text editors, source code editors and IDEs that allows the user to selectively hide and display sections of a currently-edited file as a part of routine edit operations. This allows the user to manage large amounts of text while viewing only those subsections of the text that are specifically relevant at any given time.
This feature is commonly used by developers to manage source code files.
Text folding is a similar feature used in folding editors and outliners. Text folding is generally distinguishable from code folding in that the latter tends to be used with the specific syntax of markup languages or programming languages, whereas the former can be used with ordinary text. Another variation, called "data folding", is implemented in some hex editors and is used to structure a binary file or hide inaccessible data sections in a RAM-editor.
Consequently, the term "code folding" is only one among various other common terms for this feature. Related terms include "expand and collapse", "code hiding", "outlining" and others.
Read more about Code Folding: Conventions, Examples, Software With Code Folding Capability
Famous quotes containing the words code and/or folding:
“Motion or change, and identity or rest, are the first and second secrets of nature: Motion and Rest. The whole code of her laws may be written on the thumbnail, or the signet of a ring.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“There’s only one way for an individual to remain upright, not to fall to pieces, not to sink into the mire of self-oblivion ... or self-contempt. That’s calmly to turn away from everything, to say, “Enough!” and, folding one’s useless arms across one’s empty breast, to retain the ultimate, the sole attainable virtue, the virtue of recognizing one’s own insignificance.”
—Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev (1818–1883)