how to keep cursor normal blinking

Eclipse text cursor has changed and editor behaves differently

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I pushed a magic button and now my cursor (the blinking thing that shows where you type) split itself and now Eclipse is acting like a plain text editor/like Microsoft Word. The cursor now looks like the character above backslash (a thin vertical bar with a gap in the middle.) I just want to know how to get Eclipse to act normal again, and what I accidentally did so I don't do it again. java eclipse editor shareimprove this question edited Jan 9 at 20:32 Aurélien Ooms 1,2921722 asked Mar 5 '12 at 11:39 Jeremy 4231411

1   "the character above forward slash" is a question mark on my keyboard... can you be more specific? –  DNA Mar 5 '12 at 11:42 pretty sure the question mark is above the back slash. I thought that the direction of the slash is based on starting at the top and going to the bottom... If I'm mistaken then obviously I mean the backslash. –  Jeremy Mar 5 '12 at 11:45 1   What does "fugoogin" mean? What does it mean when Eclipse acts like MS Word? –  Gabe Mar 5 '12 at 11:52 1   That was a very well-posed question. –  Leo Mar 1 '13 at 21:47 4   Funny how you describe it as "the character above backslash (a thin vertical bar with a gap in the middle.)" instead of just typing ¦ –  Valentin Milea Dec 28 '13 at 17:10 show 1 more comment

6 Answers

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up vote 76 down vote accepted

It sounds like you have accidentally switched from Smart Insert mode to Insert mode. Press Ctrl + Shift + Insert or tick Smart Insert Mode on the Edit menu to switch back. Smart Insert is the feature that automatically insert closing quotes and brackets when you type the opener and places semi-colons at the end of the line when you press semi-colon (if you have the preference for that enabled.) shareimprove this answer edited Mar 5 '12 at 12:17 answered Mar 5 '12 at 12:07 mikej 34.5k390106

Thank god, this split caret would have made me crazy! –  STM Apr 10 '12 at 8:42 1   @STM: It's funny how an apparently negligible cosmetic change to the cursor can drive us up the wall! Ctrl+Shift+Insert fixed it, though! –  WeNeigh Dec 20 '12 at 19:42 Took me a while to find this on google. I knew something was wrong. –  rottz Jan 28 '13 at 18:23 2   Ahhh, brilliant. I don't even know how I turned it on (how the hell do you accidentally press Ctrl + Shift + Insert?), but you saved me! –  Davor Jul 10 '13 at 21:33 1   I think it went from smart insert to normal insert when I changed the file extension to an unknown one, thanks, it was driving me insane! Also, it tells you which more you are in on the bottom bar :) –  Liam W Feb 8 '14 at 17:51 add a comment

up vote 8 down vote

Maybe you pressed the insert key, which will change the Eclipse editor to Overwrite rather than Smart Insert (see the info bar at the bottom of the editor), and will change the cursor to a block rather than a vertical line? Update: Thanks for clarification - see mikej's answer which is correct. shareimprove this answer edited Mar 5 '12 at 12:42 answered Mar 5 '12 at 11:48 DNA 21.5k73580

Incorrect, Insert would make it behave like Command prompt, not Microsoft word. Also insert makes the cursor a block and not a split cursor, as you said. I have a vertical line with a gap in the middle of it, like the character above the forward slash... –  Jeremy Mar 5 '12 at 11:52 @DNA nice thread isn't ... +1 –  mKorbel Mar 5 '12 at 11:54 @Jeremy it would help if you explained what you mean by "acting like Microsoft Word" then...and "split cursor"... –  DNA Mar 5 '12 at 11:57 add a comment

up vote 1 down vote

@Jeremy by saying " I have a vertical line with a gap in the middle of it, like the character above the forward slash " i guess you are referring to the ' Pipeline 'symbol, the one you use to denote' OR ' in programming languages. As people already answered, you are in Raw Insert Mode (as opposed to Smart Mode) so try Edit->Smart Insert Mode (Ctrl+Shift+Insert by default). For more info you can visit this thread http://www.eclipse.org/forums/index.php/t/53833/ And remember, the symbol is called 'Pipe' symbol or 'Pipeline' symbol. shareimprove this answer answered Sep 3 '12 at 9:18 NANDAGOPAL 19311

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up vote 1 down vote	If nothing works, restart eclipse. That is what I did ! shareimprove this answer answered Dec 12 '12 at 8:01 raghav 393
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up vote 0 down vote	I've encountered this symptom in Eclipse 3.7 before. And after I restarted machine, it disappeared. shareimprove this answer answered Mar 5 '12 at 16:02 bnguyen82 2,30921527
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up vote 0 down vote

I also had same problem, you can fix this by pressing just INSERT button on keyboard (on windows platform) also. It worked for me. or you can restart your eclipse.