Plugin Tools
contains a large number of little tools that help you to perform certain task. Most of them are realized as plugins. That means, if you do not need a plugin, you can disable it.
That also means, if you are looking for a functionality that should be there and isn't, then maybe it's implemented in a plugin and that plugin is disabled. For example, in the file menu there is a Quick Open feature, but only if it's enabled in the Project - Project Options dialog.
Technically, plugins are based on the KDevPlugin class defined in lib/interfaces/kdevplugin.h. The following is taken from a comment from there.
KDevPlugin is the base class for all KDevelop plugins. A plugin is a component which is loaded into KDevelop shell at startup or by request. A plugin has a scope that can be either:
Core
Global
Project
Core plugins are global plugins which offer some important "core" functionality and thus are not selectable by user in plugin configuration pages.
Global plugins are plugins which require only shell to be loaded and do not operate on KDevProject interface and/or do not use project wide information. For example, the uimode plugin allows a developer to select which user interface they wish to use.
Project plugins require a project to be loaded and are usually loaded/unloaded along with the project. If a plugin operates on project-related information then it is a project plugin. The Automake Manager, for example, only needs to be active when an Automake based project is currently loaded.
As stated above, core plugins cannot be disabled. Global plugins can be enabled/disabled in Settings Configure KDevelop... under Plugins. Project plugins can be enabled/disabled in Project Project Options... under Plugins. Active plugins can have many effects on KDevelop. Depending on their function, they may add extra menus, extra menu items, extra tool buttons, etc.
Plugins which are disabled do not clutter your menus and are not loaded into memory.
The following plugin list is generated by a small script (listplugins.sh) written by Volker Paul. All plugins have a .desktop file where information such as name and comments are written. If in the following these comments are not very useful, it is because the plugin authors made them this way.
The plugins are grouped by scope (Core, Global, Project).
Scope: Core

Application Wizard
Application Wizard

Difference Viewer
Difference Viewer

FileCreate
FileCreate

FullScreen
FullScreen

Tip of the Day
Tip of the Day

User-Interface Selection
Provides a dialog for UI-mode selection.

VCSManager
Version Control System Manager
Scope: Global

Abbreviation Expansion
Provides support for customizable abbreviations - short words which expand into commonly needed code structures.

Documentation
The Documentation plugin offers browsing and searching in local and online documentation with support for multiple documentation systems.

FileList
Provides a list of all currently open files. (Handy when the tab bar is not quite wide enough.)

File Selector
Powerful network transparent file browser utility.

Shell Filtering and Insertion
Provides a way of manipulating editor text using commandline tools. Appears in the Tools menu.

Grep Frontend
Integrates "find|grep" in KDevelop - allows fast searching of multiple files using patterns or regular expressions.

Embedded Konsole
This plugin gives KDevelop an embedded konsole for quick and easy command line access.

"Open with" Menu Addon
This plugin provides additional "open" alternatives for various context menus in KDevelop.

Part Explorer Tool
A Graphical tool for performing KTrader-like queries about registered services

Regular Expression Tester
Tool to design and test regular expressions against common regexp syntaxes.

Replace Part
This plugin is an interactive projectwide "Search and Replace" tool. Search using string or regexp matching, and select the replacements to be made from a preview before the action is finalized. When loaded it appears in the Edit menu.

Scripting
The Scripting plugin offers KScript based scripting of the KDevelop application

Code Snippets
This plugin allows you to store code snippets and add them to your code

Text Structure
Provides a structure overview and navigation for HTML and TEX files

Tools Menu Addition
This plugin provides an easy way to add external applications to the Tools menu and toolbar.

Valgrind Frontend
Valgrind is a tool that helps you find memory management problems in programs. http://developer.kde.org/~sewardj/
Scope: Project

annotation Plugin
annotation Description

Source Code Formatter
A plugin for formatting of sourcecode according to a specified set of rules. When loaded it is found in the Tools menu.

Bookmarks
Plugin that provides navigation and overview of active source bookmarks and persists them between sessions.

Class View
This plugin displays a graphical view of all the classes in the project, complete with methods and attributes, and provides a way of direct source navigation.

CopyTo
Simple file uploader plugin. It does a file copy over any KIO supported protocol.

CTags Frontend
CTags is a source navigation tool with support for many languages. When loaded it provides a context menu for finding type declarations/definitions and also a query dialog. http://ctags.sourceforge.net/

Final Packaging Support
Aids in building and publishing the final project. Only RPM package format is supported for now.

Doxygen Support
The doxygen plugin provides a way to specify and control generation of documentation for a project, based on source code content. You need to have doxygen installed to be able to use this. For more info goto http://www.doxygen.org

QuickOpen
Provides an efficient way of finding/opening files, classes and methods in a large project. Appears in the File and Tools menus when loaded.

Security Checker
Code security checker
So far the generated plugin list.

Project Management Plugins in
antproject	ANT Project Manager ( applications)
autoproject	Automake Project Manager
customproject	Custom Project Manager
trollproject	QMake based Project Manager
The above plugins are currently (May 2005) empty. Maybe project management support will be implemented as plugins in the future.

Language Support Plugins in
cppsupport	Support for C/C++
fortransupport	Support for Fortran
javasupport	Support for
perlsupport	Support for Perl
phpsupport	Support for PHP
pythonsupport	Support for Python
In the following, some of the plugins will be discussed in detail.

The abbrev Plugin
This plugin expands abbreviations into frequently used code snippets. It is activated by pressing Space. For example, when you enter "ife" into a C++ in the editor and press Space, you obtain an if-else code template and save some key strokes. The set of supported abbreviations depends on the programming language of the edited file. For example, for PHP you will obviously be interested in other code templates than for .
The set of code templates is configurable. If the plugin is enabled, you can see which ones are available in the Settings Configure KDevelop... dialog under Abbreviations.

The filter Plugin
This offers two features. If you select Tools Execute command, you can enter a shell command. The output of this command is inserted into the editor buffer when you hit the Start button.
A related feature is available under Tools Filter selection through command.... In order to use this, you must select a text area in the editor. If you now enter a shell command and hit the Start button, the command is started and the selection used as the standard input for it. The standard output of the command is then inserted into the editor, replacing the selection.
For example, if you write documentation, you frequently have to refer to menu items. To do this correctly for e.g. the Copy command in the Edit menu, you have to write:

<menuchoice><guimenu>Edit</guimenu><guimenuitem>Copy</guimenuitem></menuchoice>

This is cumbersome, so you'd rather just write "Edit - Copy" and let the computer do the tagging. Here is how you can do it. You write a little shell script called mef you put e.g. in your home's bin directory:

sed s/"^\(.*\) - \(.*\)\$"/"<menuchoice><guimenu>\1<\/guimenu><guimenuitem>\2<\/guimenuitem><\/menuchoice>"/

Don't forget to make it executable. That's all. Now, in your documentation .docbook source, you write "Edit - Copy". You select this text you just wrote, choose Tools Filter selection through command... and call ~/bin/mef. Instantly "Edit - Copy" is replaced by

<menuchoice><guimenu>Edit</guimenu><guimenuitem>Copy</guimenuitem></menuchoice>

The Plugin
This one helps you to use the API documentation tool (). You can select Project Run Doxygen to generate API documentation for your current project, based on the configuration given by the file Doxyfile in your project directory.
Furthermore, you can configure in the Project Project options... dialog. This dialog is very similar to the tool.

The Plugin
Although the class browser gives you extensive insight into the symbols and classes of your project, you may also want to use the ctags tool. In particular, this one supports a lot more language than the class browser.
You activate this plugin under Tools CTags.... When you start it the first time, you will be asked to generate a search database first. When you accept this, the program will be started and will create a file named tags in your project directory. This is a text file containing all symbols of your source files.
You can search in the symbol database in two ways: when the Regular expression match box is checked, the text you enter will be interpreted as a regular expression (POSIX flavor) and matched with the existing symbols. For example, the text .*Widget will search for all symbols ending with Widget. If the box is not checked, the search will be verbatim.
When searching, you will get a list of the matched symbols, accompanied with the line numbers where they are defined. You jump to the respective point by clicking on the list.
For some languages, distinguishes different kinds of symbols. For example, Python has classes and functions. You can selectively search only for classes by checking the respecting kinds in the dialog.
The symbol database is normally not updated when your sources change. Consequently, after a while the line numbers will not be correct anymore and newly added classes and functions will be missing. Therefore you should update the tags file in regular intervals by pressing the button Regenerate.

The astyle Plugin
Astyle is a plugin for formatting of sourcecode according to a specified set of rules.

The regexptest Plugin
Designing with regular expressions can be hard work. Often the first try at an expression matches too many strings. In particular, when working with a compiled language, the turnaround times when debugging a regular expression can be awkward. The regexptest plugin allows you to directly explore the changes in a regular expression. It is activated by choosing Tools Debug Regular Expression....
In the flavor group box, you can choose the flavor of the regular expression engine used. Currently supported is the flavor defined in the POSIX standard, which is used by the program, and the extended POSIX syntax used by the program .
When you enter an expression, you get immediate feedback about any syntax errors in it. By entering a text under Test string, you can see whether the expression matches this string. In particular, if your regular expression includes groups, such as ([a-z]), the content of the matched subgroups will be shown in a list box.