Eclipse Cookbook

4.7. Restoring Elements and Files from Local History

Problem

You decide a recent change was a mistake and want to revert to a previous version.

Solution

Right-click an element and use the Local History menu, or right-click a file and use the items in the Replace With menu.

Discussion

Because it maintains a local history, Eclipse enables you to undo recent changes without having to resort to selecting Edit→ Undo, which provides limited options. For example, if you’ve made some changes to a method that you want to undo, right-click the method’s name in its declaration and select Local History→ Replace With Previous.

The context menu items for the JDT editor that enable you to restore from local history are as follows:

Local History→ Replace With Previous

Replaces a file with the previous version.

Local History→ Replace With

Replaces an element, such as a variable, field, or method, with its version from local history. This item shows the local history graphically before the change is made.

Local History→ Restore From

Restores a Java element from local history. This item shows the available choices from local history graphically before the change is made.

For example, selecting Local History→ Replace With enables you to review the change before making it, as shown in Figure 4-13.

Figure 4-13. Replacing Java elements from local history

You also can revert an entire file to its previous version by right-clicking it in a view such as the Package Explorer and selecting one of the following menu items:

Replace With→ Previous from Local History

Replaces the file with the previous version in local history

Replace With→ Local History

Replaces the file with a version you select from local history

Restore from Local History

Restores a file from local history

Eclipse 3.0

In Eclipse 3.0, you can restore a line of code to its original version. Right-click the Quick Diff bar, and select Revert Line.

See Also

Recipe 4.5 on comparing files; Recipe 4.6 on comparing files against local history.