Editing Code folding (section)

===Token-based===
Token-based folding points are specified using special [[delimiter]]s that serve no other purpose in the text than to identify the boundaries of folding points. This convention can be compared to indentation-based folding points, where printable characters are used instead of whitespace. The most common delimiter tokens are <code>{{{</code> to begin the folded section, and <code>}}}</code> to end it.

Another notable token is <code>[http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/9a1ybwek.aspx #region]</code> ([http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ed8yd1ha.aspx C# directives]), respectively <code>[http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/sd032a17.aspx #Region]</code> ([http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/7ah135z7.aspx Visual Basic directives]), used in [[Microsoft Visual Studio]] [[Microsoft Visual Studio#Code editor|Code Editor]]. These are treated syntactically as [[Directive (programming)|compiler directives]], though they do not affect compilation.

As a manual method, token-based folding allows discretion in grouping code based on arbitrary criteria, such as "functions related to a given task", which cannot be inferred from syntactic analysis.

Token-based folding requires in-band signalling, with folding tokens essentially being structured comments, and unlike other methods, are present in the source code and visible to other programmers. This allows them to be shared, but also requires their use (or preservation) by all programmers working on a particular file, and can cause friction and maintenance burden.