book/src/configuration.md · helix

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helix/book/src/configuration.md

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1# Configuration

3To override global configuration parameters, create a `config.toml` file located in your config directory:

5* Linux and Mac: `~/.config/helix/config.toml`

6* Windows: `%AppData%\helix\config.toml`

8> Hint: You can easily open the config file by typing `:config-open` within Helix normal mode.

10Example config:

12```toml

13theme = "onedark"

15[editor]

16line-number = "relative"

17mouse = false

19[editor.cursor-shape]

20insert = "bar"

21normal = "block"

22select = "underline"

24[editor.file-picker]

25hidden = false

26```

28You may also specify a file to use for configuration with the `-c` or

29`--config` CLI argument: `hx -c path/to/custom-config.toml`.

31It is also possible to trigger configuration file reloading by sending the `USR1`

32signal to the helix process, e.g. via `pkill -USR1 hx`. This is only supported

33on unix operating systems.

35## Editor

37### `[editor]` Section

39| Key | Description | Default |

40|--|--|---------|

41| `scrolloff` | Number of lines of padding around the edge of the screen when scrolling. | `5` |

42| `mouse` | Enable mouse mode. | `true` |

43| `middle-click-paste` | Middle click paste support. | `true` |

44| `scroll-lines` | Number of lines to scroll per scroll wheel step. | `3` |

45| `shell` | Shell to use when running external commands. | Unix: `["sh", "-c"]`<br/>Windows: `["cmd", "/C"]` |

46| `line-number` | Line number display: `absolute` simply shows each line's number, while `relative` shows the distance from the current line. When unfocused or in insert mode, `relative` will still show absolute line numbers. | `absolute` |

47| `cursorline` | Highlight all lines with a cursor. | `false` |

48| `cursorcolumn` | Highlight all columns with a cursor. | `false` |

49| `gutters` | Gutters to display: Available are `diagnostics` and `diff` and `line-numbers` and `spacer`, note that `diagnostics` also includes other features like breakpoints, 1-width padding will be inserted if gutters is non-empty | `["diagnostics", "spacer", "line-numbers", "spacer", "diff"]` |

50| `auto-completion` | Enable automatic pop up of auto-completion. | `true` |

51| `auto-format` | Enable automatic formatting on save. | `true` |

52| `auto-save` | Enable automatic saving on focus moving away from Helix. Requires [focus event support](https://github.com/helix-editor/helix/wiki/Terminal-Support) from your terminal. | `false` |

53| `idle-timeout` | Time in milliseconds since last keypress before idle timers trigger. Used for autocompletion, set to 0 for instant. | `400` |

54| `completion-trigger-len` | The min-length of word under cursor to trigger autocompletion | `2` |

55| `auto-info` | Whether to display infoboxes | `true` |

56| `true-color` | Set to `true` to override automatic detection of terminal truecolor support in the event of a false negative. | `false` |

57| `rulers` | List of column positions at which to display the rulers. Can be overridden by language specific `rulers` in `languages.toml` file. | `[]` |

58| `bufferline` | Renders a line at the top of the editor displaying open buffers. Can be `always`, `never` or `multiple` (only shown if more than one buffer is in use) | `never` |

59| `color-modes` | Whether to color the mode indicator with different colors depending on the mode itself | `false` |

61### `[editor.statusline]` Section

63Allows configuring the statusline at the bottom of the editor.

65The configuration distinguishes between three areas of the status line:

67`[ ... ... LEFT ... ... | ... ... ... ... CENTER ... ... ... ... | ... ... RIGHT ... ... ]`

69Statusline elements can be defined as follows:

71```toml

72[editor.statusline]

73left = ["mode", "spinner"]

74center = ["file-name"]

75right = ["diagnostics", "selections", "position", "file-encoding", "file-line-ending", "file-type"]

76separator = "│"

77mode.normal = "NORMAL"

78mode.insert = "INSERT"

79mode.select = "SELECT"

80```

81The `[editor.statusline]` key takes the following sub-keys:

83| Key | Description | Default |

84| --- | --- | --- |

85| `left` | A list of elements aligned to the left of the statusline | `["mode", "spinner", "file-name"]` |

86| `center` | A list of elements aligned to the middle of the statusline | `[]` |

87| `right` | A list of elements aligned to the right of the statusline | `["diagnostics", "selections", "position", "file-encoding"]` |

88| `separator` | The character used to separate elements in the statusline | `"│"` |

89| `mode.normal` | The text shown in the `mode` element for normal mode | `"NOR"` |

90| `mode.insert` | The text shown in the `mode` element for insert mode | `"INS"` |

91| `mode.select` | The text shown in the `mode` element for select mode | `"SEL"` |

93The following statusline elements can be configured:

95| Key | Description |

96| ------ | ----------- |

97| `mode` | The current editor mode (`mode.normal`/`mode.insert`/`mode.select`) |

98| `spinner` | A progress spinner indicating LSP activity |

99| `file-name` | The path/name of the opened file |

100| `file-base-name` | The basename of the opened file |

101| `file-modification-indicator` | The indicator to show whether the file is modified (a `[+]` appears when there are unsaved changes) |

102| `file-encoding` | The encoding of the opened file if it differs from UTF-8 |

103| `file-line-ending` | The file line endings (CRLF or LF) |

104| `total-line-numbers` | The total line numbers of the opened file |

105| `file-type` | The type of the opened file |

106| `diagnostics` | The number of warnings and/or errors |

107| `workspace-diagnostics` | The number of warnings and/or errors on workspace |

108| `selections` | The number of active selections |

109| `primary-selection-length` | The number of characters currently in primary selection |

110| `position` | The cursor position |

111| `position-percentage` | The cursor position as a percentage of the total number of lines |

112| `separator` | The string defined in `editor.statusline.separator` (defaults to `"│"`) |

113| `spacer` | Inserts a space between elements (multiple/contiguous spacers may be specified) |

114

115### `[editor.lsp]` Section

116

117| Key | Description | Default |

118| --- | ----------- | ------- |

119| `enable` | Enables LSP integration. Setting to false will completely disable language servers regardless of language settings.| `true` |

120| `display-messages` | Display LSP progress messages below statusline[^1] | `false` |

121| `auto-signature-help` | Enable automatic popup of signature help (parameter hints) | `true` |

122| `display-signature-help-docs` | Display docs under signature help popup | `true` |

123

124[^1]: By default, a progress spinner is shown in the statusline beside the file path.

125

126### `[editor.cursor-shape]` Section

127

128Defines the shape of cursor in each mode. Note that due to limitations

129of the terminal environment, only the primary cursor can change shape.

130Valid values for these options are `block`, `bar`, `underline`, or `hidden`.

131

132| Key | Description | Default |

133| --- | ----------- | ------- |

134| `normal` | Cursor shape in [normal mode][normal mode] | `block` |

135| `insert` | Cursor shape in [insert mode][insert mode] | `block` |

136| `select` | Cursor shape in [select mode][select mode] | `block` |

137

138[normal mode]: ./keymap.md#normal-mode

139[insert mode]: ./keymap.md#insert-mode

140[select mode]: ./keymap.md#select--extend-mode

141

142### `[editor.file-picker]` Section

143

144Sets options for file picker and global search. All but the last key listed in

145the default file-picker configuration below are IgnoreOptions: whether hidden

146files and files listed within ignore files are ignored by (not visible in) the

147helix file picker and global search. There is also one other key, `max-depth`

148available, which is not defined by default.

149

150All git related options are only enabled in a git repository.

151

152| Key | Description | Default |

153|--|--|---------|

154|`hidden` | Enables ignoring hidden files. | true

155|`follow-links` | Follow symlinks instead of ignoring them | true

156|`deduplicate-links` | Ignore symlinks that point at files already shown in the picker | true

157|`parents` | Enables reading ignore files from parent directories. | true

158|`ignore` | Enables reading `.ignore` files. | true

159|`git-ignore` | Enables reading `.gitignore` files. | true

160|`git-global` | Enables reading global .gitignore, whose path is specified in git's config: `core.excludefile` option. | true

161|`git-exclude` | Enables reading `.git/info/exclude` files. | true

162|`max-depth` | Set with an integer value for maximum depth to recurse. | Defaults to `None`.

163

164### `[editor.auto-pairs]` Section

165

166Enables automatic insertion of pairs to parentheses, brackets, etc. Can be a

167simple boolean value, or a specific mapping of pairs of single characters.

168

169To disable auto-pairs altogether, set `auto-pairs` to `false`:

170

171```toml

172[editor]

173auto-pairs = false # defaults to `true`

174```

175

176The default pairs are <code>(){}[]''""``</code>, but these can be customized by

177setting `auto-pairs` to a TOML table:

178

179```toml

180[editor.auto-pairs]

181'(' = ')'

182'{' = '}'

183'[' = ']'

184'"' = '"'

185'`' = '`'

186'<' = '>'

187```

188

189Additionally, this setting can be used in a language config. Unless

190the editor setting is `false`, this will override the editor config in

191documents with this language.

192

193Example `languages.toml` that adds <> and removes ''

194

195```toml

196[[language]]

197name = "rust"

198

199[language.auto-pairs]

200'(' = ')'

201'{' = '}'

202'[' = ']'

203'"' = '"'

204'`' = '`'

205'<' = '>'

206```

207

208### `[editor.search]` Section

209

210Search specific options.

211

212| Key | Description | Default |

213|--|--|---------|

214| `smart-case` | Enable smart case regex searching (case insensitive unless pattern contains upper case characters) | `true` |

215| `wrap-around`| Whether the search should wrap after depleting the matches | `true` |

216

217### `[editor.whitespace]` Section

218

219Options for rendering whitespace with visible characters. Use `:set whitespace.render all` to temporarily enable visible whitespace.

220

221| Key | Description | Default |

222|-----|-------------|---------|

223| `render` | Whether to render whitespace. May either be `"all"` or `"none"`, or a table with sub-keys `space`, `nbsp`, `tab`, and `newline`. | `"none"` |

224| `characters` | Literal characters to use when rendering whitespace. Sub-keys may be any of `tab`, `space`, `nbsp`, `newline` or `tabpad` | See example below |

225

226Example

227

228```toml

229[editor.whitespace]

230render = "all"

231# or control each character

232[editor.whitespace.render]

233space = "all"

234tab = "all"

235newline = "none"

236