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Return Highlighter

Looking for the latest plugin binaries? Get them here as .zip
Supported IDE versions: 201.6668 to *

Supported languages

  • Java
  • JavaScript and TypeScript
  • Python
  • PHP
  • Need another language? Open an issue

The aim of this plugin is to highlight return keywords in source code.
Sometimes it happens we find difficult to read source files; take for example this piece of code

1  private toggleRowCheck(rowId: string, doCheck: boolean): boolean {
2    if (doCheck) {
3      if (this.checkedRows.size >= (this.selectionOpt.limit || Infinity)) return false;
4      this.checkedRows.add(rowId);
5    } else {
6      this.checkedRows.delete(rowId);
7    }
8    return true;
9  }

It is not immediately apparent a return statement is present at line 3.
This is why the plugin does

  • Show a gutter icon next to the returning lines (clicking on it will take you to the return statement!)
  • Highlight the return keyword, so that it stands out more

Example

Usage example


The plugin offers some degree of customization.

Choose for which languages to show the gutter icon

You can customize which languages will have the gutter icon via
Settings > Editor > General > Gutter Icons

You'll find a Return Highlighter section, with all available languages listed.

Gutter icons

Disable/Customize the return keyword color highlighting

You can disable or customize how the return keyword is highlighted, to stand out more, via
Settings > Editor > Color Scheme > Return Highlighter

To reset values to the default ones, check Inherit values from.

Style

Limit the scope of the plugin

  • Top-level returns only

    Certain languages offer features like lambda expressions (Java) or function expressions (JavaScript). This means potentially you can have nested functions, and thus nested return statements.

    To highlight only top-level return keywords, depending on the language, look under
    Settings > Return Highlighter > [language]
    and check Only top-level return keywords.

  • Skip simple getters

    Highlighting return statements in simple functions/methods can be annoying.
    Thus it is possible to disable it for such elements.

    To skip return keywords inside simple getters, look under
    Settings > Return Highlighter > [language]
    and check Skip simple getters.

    Scope

    A tooltip is there to show examples of simple getters, per language, but for the sake of README completeness here is one too in TypeScript

    isEnabled(): boolean {
      return true;
    }
    

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