VSCode Snippets

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

Here, we have a snippet 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 content 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, can be cycled through quickly using a 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.