IntelliJ IDEA offers an impressive set of code refactoring actions. The good thing is that the refactoring process in IntelliJ IDEA is not limited purely to the Java language. If you have installed the corresponding plugins, refactoring will be available for other languages and frameworks as well. This includes SQL expressions, database table definitions, Spring annotations, expressions, configurations, Hibernate mappings, JSF expressions, and so on.

To start refactoring, you will first have to select the code fragment that you want to refactor; we will call it the refactoring target. This can be a symbol or just a piece of code. The symbol can be selected in the editor; it is usually sufficient to have the caret on the symbol that you want to refactor. IntelliJ IDEA will expand the selection automatically. This is quite a time saver. You can also pick the symbol in the Project view, Structure tool window, or the Commander tool window, if you have the Commander...