Strip Paste 📋

A Visual Studio Code extension for clean paste operations.

• Removes the leading character from all non-empty lines if they start with the same symbol (e.g., +, >, -).
• Optionally removes trailing comments (// ..., /* ... */, # ...).
• Comment symbols inside string literals are not removed.
• Safely removes consecutive trailing comments.
• Supports # comments for Python and Ruby.
• Comment symbols can be customized per language (//, /* ... */, #, etc.).
• Empty lines are preserved.
• Falls back to normal paste if conditions are not met.
• Normal paste for multi-cursor mode.

Supported Languages (Default)

• JavaScript / TypeScript
• Java
• C / C++
• C#
• Go
• Swift
• Kotlin
• PHP
• Rust
• Python
• Ruby

Installation

1. Download the .vsix file from Releases
2. Open the Extensions view in VS Code
3. Select ... menu → Install from VSIX... and specify the file

Usage

• Default keybinding: Ctrl+Shift+Alt+V (Cmd+Shift+Alt+V for macOS)
• You can assign Strip Paste: Clean and Paste to any key via Command Palette or keybindings

Settings (Default Values)

Add to your settings.json:

{
  // Only remove if all non-empty lines start with one of these
  "stripPaste.leadingChars": ["+", ">", "-"],

  // Remove trailing comments (default: false)
  "stripPaste.removeTrailingComments": false,

  // Remove comment-only lines (default: false)
  "stripPaste.removeCommentOnlyLines": false,

  // Comment patterns per language (default)
  "stripPaste.commentPatterns": {
    "javascript": { "line": ["//"], "block": [["/*", "*/"]] },
    "typescript": { "line": ["//"], "block": [["/*", "*/"]] },
    "java": { "line": ["//"], "block": [["/*", "*/"]] },
    "c": { "line": ["//"], "block": [["/*", "*/"]] },
    "cpp": { "line": ["//"], "block": [["/*", "*/"]] },
    "csharp": { "line": ["//"], "block": [["/*", "*/"]] },
    "go": { "line": ["//"], "block": [["/*", "*/"]] },
    "swift": { "line": ["//"], "block": [["/*", "*/"]] },
    "kotlin": { "line": ["//"], "block": [["/*", "*/"]] },
    "php": { "line": ["//"], "block": [["/*", "*/"]] },
    "rust": { "line": ["//"], "block": [["/*", "*/"]] },
    "python": { "line": ["#"], "block": [] },
    "ruby": { "line": ["#"], "block": [] }
  }
}

How to Add a Supported Language

To add support for Lua:

1. Find the languageId for Lua.
   • Open a file in the target language, then run "Developer: Show Current File Language Mode" from the Command Palette.
   • See the official documentation: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/languages/identifiers
2. Check the line and block comment syntax for the language.
3. Add a setting under "stripPaste.commentPatterns" for the languageId. Example for Lua:

   "stripPaste.commentPatterns": {
     // ...existing settings...
     "lua": { "line": ["--"], "block": [["--[[", "]]"]] }
   }
   

4. Restart VS Code or save your settings to apply changes.