How to make Eclipse Formatter to not destroy commented out code?

Question

A lot of my co-workers enjoy leaving behind commented out code, how to make Eclipse Formatter to not destroy formatting of that code(now it makes a big blob or block of it).

P.S. I know I can somehow configure the formatter to just ignore that code, I done it once, but I cant remember how.

Answer 1

In the Eclipse Formatter Settings (Preferences/Java/Code Style/Formatter) in the tab Comments UNCHECK the checkbox "Enable Block Comment Formatting" and "Enable Line Comment Formatting" These should be disabled anyway.

Answer 2

One option in 3.6 would be to tell Eclipse not to format these blocks, using /* @formatter:off */

Another option that I use a lot when working in other people's code is to select the lines I'm working on before invoking the formatter - that way I only format the areas I've actually changed, and leave the rest untouched (to get more readable diffs etc.).

Answer 3

For Eclipse 3.7.1, there's a new configuration page (Off/On Tags) in the code format profiles. Make sure you've enabled them. You can also specify the exact comment off and comment on tags.