VS Code Snippets

#vscode #productivity #tutorial

VS Code snippets is an easy way to create a template for recurring code blocks or front matter for certain files. We will look at a small example here for a Zettelkasten header.

Here, we have a snippet that will be triggered by "---" followed by Ctrl + Space. Intellisense will also pick it up and suggest the same as well.

Name of the snippet: We have named it Test
Prefix: The trigger that would invoke the snippet. "---"
Body: The conent to be added.
Description: A small description of what the snippet is for.

"FrontMatter": {
    "prefix": "---",
    "body": [
        "---",
        "title: $1",
        "date: \"$CURRENT_YEAR-$CURRENT_MONTH-$CURRENT_DATE\"",
        "type: ${2|Daily,Literature,Permanent,Index|}",
        "description: $3",
        "tags: [$4]",
        "---"
    ],
    "description": "FrontMatter"
    }

Inside the body, we have a lot of control.

Parameters defined by $1, $2, etc, that can be cycled through quickly using tab.
Date or time that can be auto populated.
Set a list of values that can be quickly selected and restricted.

A small gif showing the snippet in action.