How to display line numbers in Arduino IDE program

This tutorial demonstrates how to enable line numbers in the Arduino IDE, a crucial feature for debugging and code readability. Displaying line numbers makes it significantly easier to identify specific code sections, share debugging information with others, and generally improve the coding experience. This is especially helpful for larger projects or when collaborating with others.

Introduction

Enabling line numbers in the Arduino IDE enhances your coding workflow. This simple adjustment improves code readability and debugging, making it easier to pinpoint errors and share code snippets with others. The benefits are particularly noticeable in larger projects or when working collaboratively.

Hardware/Components

This tutorial requires only the Arduino IDE software. No additional hardware is needed.

Wiring Guide

This is a software-only tutorial; no wiring is involved.

Code Explanation

There is no code to explain in this project. The solution involves modifying the Arduino IDE preferences file.

Live Project/Demonstration

To enable line numbers (in video at 01:02), follow these steps:

Open the Arduino IDE.
Go to File > Preferences (in video at 01:04).
At the bottom of the Preferences window, you'll see a line that says "Show line numbers".
Click on the link next to "Show line numbers" to open the Arduino IDE preferences file location in your file explorer (in video at 01:15).
Before editing, close the Arduino IDE (in video at 01:32) to prevent overwriting the changes.
Open the `preferences.txt` file in a text editor.
Scroll to the bottom of the file and locate the line that says `#show line numbers`.
Change this to `show line numbers=true` (in video at 01:58).
Save the file.
Reopen the Arduino IDE. The line numbers should now be displayed.