How to Display Line Numbers in Xcode Editor

28 February 2025 Stephan Petzl Leave a comment Xcode

As a developer, having line numbers visible in your code editor can greatly enhance your coding efficiency and debugging process. If you’ve recently upgraded from Xcode 3 to Xcode 4 or higher, you might notice that the line numbers are not immediately visible. This guide will walk you through the steps to enable line numbers in Xcode, ensuring you can easily navigate your code.

Enabling Line Numbers in Xcode

To display line numbers in Xcode, follow these simple steps:

1. Open Xcode on your Mac.
2. Navigate to the Xcode menu in the top-left corner of your screen and select Preferences (or press Command + ,).
3. In the Preferences window, click on the Text Editing tab.
4. Check the box labeled Show: Line numbers.
5. Close the Preferences window. You should now see line numbers on the left side of your code editor.

Alternative Method for Line Numbers

If you prefer not to have line numbers visible at all times, you can use breakpoints to determine line numbers:

• Click in the left-hand margin of your code editor to set a breakpoint (indicated by a small blue arrow).
• Open the Breakpoint Navigator by pressing Command + 7.
• The line number of each breakpoint will be displayed in the navigator.
• To remove a breakpoint, right-click on it and select Delete Breakpoint.

Additional Resources

For more detailed guidance on using Xcode, consider exploring our comprehensive guides:

• Mastering Automatic Code Formatting in Xcode
• Resolving Xcode Launch Issues After macOS Update
• Understanding Xcode’s Processing Symbol Files Message

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