How to Properly Capitalize Module Names in Visual Studio Code Snippets

Learn how to modify your Visual Studio Code snippets to properly capitalize module names, ensuring the first character is uppercase while all following characters are lowercase.
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This video is based on the question https://stackoverflow.com/q/62332537/ asked by the user 'Mister Epic' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/980799/ ) and on the answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/62333280/ provided by the user 'Mark' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/836330/ ) at 'Stack Overflow' website. Thanks to these great users and Stackexchange community for their contributions.

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How to Properly Capitalize Module Names in Visual Studio Code Snippets

When working with code snippets in Visual Studio Code (VSCode), you may want to adhere to specific naming conventions. One common issue arises when trying to capitalize the first letter of a module name while ensuring that the rest of the name is in lowercase. For instance, if you type FOO, you may want it transformed into Foo. However, the default capitalize function in snippets only affects the first character and leaves trailing characters unchanged, resulting in FOOState instead of the desired FooState. In this guide, we'll address this problem and provide you with a solution to achieve the perfect module naming convention in your snippets.

Problem Overview

You have a snippet designed to create asynchronous Redux modules. The goal is to ensure that when entering a module name like FOO and pressing tab, you end up with:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Instead, you currently see:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

This happens because the capturing group used in the snippet only capitalizes the first letter and does not lowercase the remaining letters.

The Solution

To resolve this issue, you need to make a minor adjustment to your snippet code. The solution involves using regex to split the module name into two parts: the first character and the rest of the string. By doing this, you can apply capitalization to the first character and lowercase to the remaining characters. Here’s how you can implement this:

Step-by-Step Guide

Locate Your Snippet: Open your snippet file in VSCode.

Modify the Last Line: Update the last part of your snippet to use a regex pattern that captures both the first character and the rest of the string. Replace it with the following line:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Breakdown of the Code

${1/(.)(.*)/...}: This regex pattern captures two groups:

First Group (.): This captures the first character of your input (e.g., F from FOO).

Second Group (.*): This captures the rest of the string (e.g., OO from FOO).

${1:/capitalize}: This transformation capitalizes the first group, which is the first character.

${2:/downcase}: This transformation lowers the case of all subsequent characters in the second group.

Result

Using this modified line, when you type in FOO and tab out, it will successfully alter your snippet to:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Conclusion

This simple adjustment to your Visual Studio Code snippet allows you to adhere to proper naming conventions by ensuring that the first letter is capitalized while the remaining letters are in lowercase. This is particularly useful in JavaScript and TypeScript development where clear and consistent naming is important for maintainable code. By mastering regex transformations in snippets, you can enhance your coding efficiency and keep your projects organized. Happy coding!