How do I refactor across a project in emacs (change method name everywhere)?

Question

I want to rewrite parts of an opensource project. This includes renaming methods. How can I do that efficiently in emacs across the whole project?

I would rather not use hacks such as search and replace in every buffer.

Have you looked at ag/grep + wgrep + search/replace? You don't open buffers individually in that. Related: http://emacs.stackexchange.com/a/243/115 — Kaushal Modi, Jan 21 '15 at 13:27
As this question has been bumped to the top (in case anyone stumbles upon this from Google), there is a dedicated python library for refactoring called Rope. It's more intelligent than the other solutions offered as it takes into account context. It is implemented in Emacs in a package called `ropemacs`. — JCC, Sep 30 '16 at 17:10
@TheUnfunCat can you add more context to your question? As of now it's pretty vague, and adding that you want to do this in a python project would clear up a lot of things. — , Jan 29 '19 at 17:24

score 21 · Accepted Answer · edited Sep 30 '16 at 14:21

21

I now use helm-ag to find all instances of the function name (searches in all files, incl. subdirs, not just in open buffers), and then I use C-c C-e to enter a buffer that lists all the matches and there I change the function name. When I am done I press C-c C-c (helm-ag--edit-commit) to store the changes to all the opened files.

This might sound confusing but please see https://github.com/ShingoFukuyama/helm-swoop

When you grok it you will cry tears of joy that such wonderful functionality exists.

edited Sep 30 '16 at 14:21

mihai

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answered Jul 04 '15 at 23:04

The Unfun Cat

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It did run a tear down my cheek. – mihai Sep 30 '16 at 11:54
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literally had tears in my eyes when executing this workflow for the first time, no kidding – Paul Dec 07 '18 at 23:41
Great solution! – fraxture Dec 05 '19 at 17:32
I had to learn to master `iedit` before this solution made sense to me. I use `C-c C-q` to quickly edit the variables inside the buffer of matches. – kotchwane Mar 25 '20 at 10:51
6 years later and this is still by far the best behaviour I can find. Thank you! – Singletoned Apr 04 '21 at 22:55
Thank god I have this keyboard protector thing. I would have borked my laptop motherboard with my tears. – THX1137 Apr 13 '21 at 05:25
After pressing `C-c C-e` the buffer with matches is read-only so there is no way to edit it. Any ideas? – redacted Aug 13 '21 at 07:10

score 8 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 29 '19 at 10:49

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You can use counsel-rg followed by C-c C-o to get a list of all candidates in a buffer. Press w to edit them with wgrep. I recommend iedit for symbol renames. Press C-c C-c to commit.

Dependencies:

ripgrep
counsel, wgrep, iedit are on MELPA

answered Jan 29 '19 at 10:49

abo-abo

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score 8 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 21 '15 at 13:26

Since you didn't specify the language, it's hard to give better answers than “Search and Replace”.

Using wgrep

If you just want to (interactively) replace all instances of a symbol with another, wgrep is your best bet. It let's you interactively edit the grep results buffer.

Do M-x package-install RET wgrep.
Run M-x rgrep. It will ask you a few easy questions and then do a recursive search for the search-term inside the directory you speficied.
Switch to the results buffer and do M-x wgrep-change-to-wgrep-mode. This buffer is now editable. Any changes you make here will be reflected in the files themselves.
Run a replace-regexp or a query-replace-regexp in this buffer, to do the refactoring.
Finish your edits with M-x wgrep-save-all-buffers and M-x wgrep-finish-edit.

score 4 · Answer 4 · edited May 28 '20 at 22:52

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You can use swiper

Run M-x swiper-all type your regex, it will list all results, you can move with up/down to see a preview for each result.
Now press M-q and it will ask you what you want to replace the matches with, type it and press enter.
It will now walk you through an interactive replace, you can use y/n/! on each, y to replace, n to skip, and ! to replace all without asking.

edited May 28 '20 at 22:52

Dmitry

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answered May 28 '20 at 09:41

Didier A.

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It is called swiper though :) Thanks! – The Unfun Cat May 28 '20 at 11:02
This works for any of the counsel functions - so you can also run `counsel-projectile-rg` or `spacemacs/search-project-rg` (configuring spacemacs to use ivy) and this will work very well. – guibor Mar 29 '21 at 09:50

score 4 · Answer 5 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:38

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For some generic approaches, look under the "Replace Across Files" heading on the Emacs Wiki search & replace page: http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/CategorySearchAndReplace

Also see the answers to: Using Emacs to recursively find and replace in text files not already open.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:38

Community

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answered Jan 21 '15 at 11:07

phils

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score 1 · Answer 6 · answered May 28 '20 at 22:58

M-x project-find-regexp could help, followed by typing r in the xref buffer.

It's not a "real" refactoring, but well along the lines of other answers here.

Or use and LSP client, such as eglot or lsp-mode, along with a suitable LSP server such as pyls. Those offer smarter rename operations.

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Apr 25 '22 at 15:55

Inspired by Dmitry's anwer, but searching through the entire project (not only the open buffers) and saving all the modified files in the end:

Run M-x +ivy/project-search type your regex, it will list all results (I tend to use this function a lot so I bound it to C-x f).
Now press M-q and it will ask you what you want to replace the matches with, type it and press enter.
It will now walk you through an interactive replace, you can use y/n/! on each, y to replace, n to skip, and ! to replace all without asking.
To save all the modified buffers, run C-x-s and then ! to save all of them.

Requires: Ivy.

How do I refactor across a project in emacs (change method name everywhere)?

7 Answers7

Using wgrep