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by TaylorAlexander 863 days ago
I have a bunch of code I need to refactor, and also write tests for. (I guess I should make the tests before the refactor). How do you do a refactor with GPT-4? Do you just dump the file in to the chat window? I also pay for github copilot, but not GPT-4. Can I use copilot for this?

Any advice appreciated!

1 comments

> Do you just dump the file in to the chat window?

Yes, along with what you want it to do.

> I also pay for github copilot, but not GPT-4. Can I use copilot for this?

Not that I know of. CoPilot is good at generating new code but can't change existing code.

GitHub Copilot Chat (which is part of Copilot) can change existing code. The UI is that you select some code, then tell it what you want. It returns a diff that you can accept or reject. https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/github-copilot-chat/about...
Copilot will change existing code. (though I find it's often not very good at it) I frequently highlight a section of code that has an issue, press ctrl-i and type something like "/fix SomeError: You did it wrong"