How to preserve format while pasting in Visual Studio 2015?

Question

I have a switch case in a section of my function, and I need to reorder some of the cases for better code reading.

So the code at the moment looks something like this:

switch(parameter) {       case "foo" : {DoSomething; DoSomething; DoSomething; DoSomething; break }       case "bar" : {DoSomething; DoSomething; DoSomething; DoSomething; break }         ....       case "alpha" : {DoSomething; DoSomething; DoSomething; DoSomething; break }       case "beta" :  {DoSomething; DoSomething; DoSomething; DoSomething; break }  } 

So I have hundreads of cases inside this switch statement and I need to reorder most of them. And while reordering, for example if I want to put case foo and case bar below cases alpha and beta. A simple Ctrl+c and Ctrl+v gives me an output like this:

switch(parameter) {       case "alpha" : {DoSomething; DoSomething; DoSomething; DoSomething; break }       case "beta" :  {DoSomething; DoSomething; DoSomething; DoSomething; break }       ......       case "foo" : {DoSomething;                      DoSomething;                      DoSomething;                      DoSomething;                      break }       case "bar" : {DoSomething;                     DoSomething;                      DoSomething;                     DoSomething;                      break }    } 

Rearranging this text multiple times is a cumbersome task. Is there a way a can duplicate a line as it is in some other part of the code?

For example I want the entire text to remain in a single line as it was before,

  case "foo" : {DoSomething; DoSomething; DoSomething; DoSomething; break }   case "bar" : {DoSomething; DoSomething; DoSomething; DoSomething; break }   

Answer 1

You're experiencing a "feature" of Visual Studio that auto-formats code on certain actions (completed statement on ;, completed block on }, or on Paste. Fortunately, these preferences can be changed via the following settings page (they are language-specific):

VS 2015

Tools > Options > Text Editor > C# > Formatting

Then temporarily uncheck the Automatically format on paste option.

VS 2017/2019

In Visual Studio 2017 and 2019, the "Formatting" options moved underneath a new "Code Style" menu and added some extra settings: