How to: Collapse and Hide Sections of Code (Visual Basic)

  • Article

The #Region directive enables you to collapse and hide sections of code in Visual Basic files. The #Region directive lets you specify a block of code that you can expand or collapse when using the Visual Studio code editor. The ability to hide code selectively makes your files more manageable and easier to read. For more information, see Outlining.

#Region directives support code block semantics such as #If...#End If. This means they cannot begin in one block and end in another; the start and end must be in the same block. #Region directives are not supported within functions.

To collapse and hide a section of code

Place the section of code between the #Region and #End Region statements, as in the following example:

#Region "This is the code to be collapsed"
    Private components As System.ComponentModel.Container
    Dim WithEvents Form1 As System.Windows.Forms.Form

    Private Sub InitializeComponent()
        components = New System.ComponentModel.Container
        Me.Text = "Form1"
    End Sub
#End Region

The #Region block can be used multiple times in a code file; thus, users can define their own blocks of procedures and classes that can, in turn, be collapsed. #Region blocks can also be nested within other #Region blocks.

Note

Hiding code does not prevent it from being compiled and does not affect #If...#End If statements.

See also