Using abbreviations reduces the time spent typing long but commonly used strings. For example, in Java mode, the abbreviation "sout" is defined to expand to "System.out.println()", so to insert "System.out.println()" in a Java buffer, you only need to type "sout" followed by Control-;. An abbreviation can either be global, in which case it can be used in all edit modes, or specific to a single mode. Abbreviations can be edited in the Abbreviations pane of the Utilities>Global Options dialog box; see the section called "The Global Options Dialog Box". The Java, VHDL. XML and XSL edit modes include some pre-defined abbreviations you might find useful. Other modes do not have any abbreviations defined by default.

Edit>Expand Abbreviation (keyboard shortcut: Control-;) attempts to expand the abbreviation named by the word before the caret. If no expansion could be found, it will offer to define one.

Automatic abbreviation expansion can be enabled in the Abbreviations pane of the Utilities>Global Options dialog box; see the section called "The Global Options Dialog Box". If enabled, pressing the space bar after entering an abbreviation will automatically expand it.

If automatic expansion is enabled, a space can be inserted without expanding the word before the caret by pressing Control-E V Space.

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