WebStorm 2021.1 Help

Add attribute

The Add Attribute refactoring allows you to add an attribute to a set of XML tags. If this refactoring is invoked, attributes matching the requested attribute name and value will be added to tags with the selected tag name. Optionally, the requested attribute may be added only to tags that do not already contain the selected attribute. This bulk addition of attributes is useful as XML schemas evolve.

Adding an attribute

Clicking Preview opens the Refactoring preview window with all found usages of the attributes to be replaced. In this window you can exclude/include usages you want to refactor.

Pressing Show XSLT... opens the XSLT preview window, displaying a small fragment of XSLT equivalent to the refactoring requested. This fragment can be used by XSLT processors to perform the requested refactoring on files external to your WebStorm project.


  1. In the editor, place the cursor within the corresponding tag.

  2. Select Refactor | XML Refactorings | Add Attribute from the main or the context menu.


  3. Determine the name of the attribute to add to the selected tags.

  4. Determine the value of the attribute to add to the selected tags.

  5. Determine whether tags that already contain the requested attribute will be ignored, or will have their values changed.

  6. Determine the scope of the addition. All tags matching name of the selected will be replaced, if they are in the selected scope. Scopes available include the current file, the entire project, or a specified directory or module. Directory scopes can either include sub-directories, or not, based on whether the Recursively checkbox is selected. If the Limit to files with DTD:... checkbox is selected, the scope will be limited to those files with the same DOCTYPE as the current file.

  7. Click Preview to make WebStorm search for usages of the selected attribute.


Last modified: 08 March 2021