kakoune/doc/manpages/commands.asciidoc

kakoune(k)
==========

NAME
----
commands - a

Primitives
----------

Some commands take an exclamation mark (*!*), which can be used to force
the execution of the command (i.e. to quit a modified buffer, the
command *q!* has to be used).

*cd* [<directory>]::
	change the current directory to *directory*, or the home directory if
	unspecified

*doc* <topic>::
	display documentation about a topic. The completion list displays the
	available topics

*e[dit][!]* <filename> [<line> [<column>]]::
	open buffer on file, go to given line and column. If file is already
	opened, just switch to this file. Use edit! to force reloading

*w[rite][!]* [<filename>]::
	write buffer to <filename> or use its name if filename is not
	given. If the file is write-protected, its permissions are temporarily
	changed to allow saving the buffer and restored afterwards when
	the write! command is used.

*w[rite]a[ll]*::
	write all buffers that are associated to a file

*q[uit][!]* [<exit status>]::
	exit Kakoune, use quit! to force quitting even if there is some
	unsaved buffers remaining. If specified, the client exit status
	will be set to <exit status>

*w[a]q[!]* [<exit status>]::
	write the current buffer (or all buffers when *waq* is used) and quit.
	If specified, the client exit status will be set to <exit status>

*kill*::
	terminate the current session, all the clients as well as the server

*b[uffer]* <name>::
	switch to buffer <name>

*b[uffer]n[ext]*::
	switch to the next buffer

*b[uffer]p[rev]*::
	switch to the previous buffer

*d[el]b[uf][!]* [<name>]::
	delete the buffer <name>

*source* <filename>::
	execute commands in <filename>

*colorscheme* <name>::
	load named colorscheme

*rename-client* <name>::
	set current client name

*rename-buffer* <name>::
	set current buffer name

*rename-session* <name>::
	set current session name

*echo* [options] <text>::
	show *text* in status line, with the following *options*:

	*-markup*:::
		expand the markup strings in *text* (c.f. the 'expansions' documentation page)

	*-debug*:::
		print the given text to the *\*debug** buffer

*nop*::
	does nothing, but arguments will be evaluated (e.g. shell expansion)

*declare-option* [-hidden] <type> <name> [<value>]::
	declare a new option, the -hidden hides the option in completion
	suggestions (c.f. the 'options' documentation page)

*set-option* <scope> <name> <value>::
	change the value of an option (c.f. the 'options' documentation page),
	note that the name of a particular buffer can be specified when the
	target *scope* is 'buffer', e.g. set buffer=/path/to/buffer foo "bar";
	the scope can also take the `current` special value, which will automatically
	point to the narrowest scope available in the current context

*unset-option* <scope> <name>::
	unset the value of an option (c.f. the 'options' documentation page)

*update-option* <scope> <name>::
	update the value of an option if its type supports that operation
	(c.f. the 'options' documentation page)

*alias* <scope> <name> <command>::
	define a new alias, within the context of a scope

*unalias* <scope> <name> [<command>]::
	remove an alias if its current value is the same as the one passed
	as an optional parameter, remove it unconditionally otherwise

*face* <name> <facespec>::
	define a face (c.f. the 'faces' documentation page)

*exec* [<flags>] <key> ...::
	execute a series of keys, as if they were hit (c.f. the 'execeval'
	documentation page)

*eval* [<flags>] <command> ...::
	execute commands, as if they were entered in the command prompt
	(c.f. the 'execeval' documentation page)

*define-command* [<flags>] <name> <command>::
	define a new command (c.f. the 'Declaring new commands' section below)

*map* <scope> <mode> <key> <keys>::
	bind a list of keys to a combination (c.f. the 'mapping' documentation
	page)

*unmap* <scope> <mode> <key> [<expected>]::
	unbind a key combination (c.f. the 'mapping' documentation page)

*hook* [-group <group>] <scope> <hook_name> <filtering_regex> <command>::
	execute a command whenever an event is triggered (c.f. the 'hooks'
	documentation page)

*remove-hooks* <scope> <group>::
	remove every hooks in *scope* that are part of the given *group*
	(c.f. the 'hooks' documentation page)

*add-highlighter* [<flags>] <highlighter_name> <highlighter_parameters> ...::
	add a highlighter to the current window (c.f. the 'highlighters'
	documentation page)

*remove-highlighter* <highlighter_id>::
	remove the highlighter whose id is *highlighter_id* (c.f. the
	'highlighters' documentation page)

Helpers
-------
Kakoune provides some helper commands that can be used to define composite
commands:

*prompt* <prompt> <command>::
	prompt the user for a string, when the user validates, executes the
	command. The entered text is available in the `text` value accessible
	through `$kak_text` in shells or `%val{text}` in commands.

	The *-init <str>* switch allows setting initial content, the
	*-password* switch hides the entered text and clears the register
	after command execution.

        The *-on-change* and *-on-abort* switches, followed by a command
        will have this command executed whenever the prompt content changes
        or the prompt is aborted, respectively.

*on-key* <command>::
	wait for next key from user, then execute <command>, the key is
	available through the `key` value, accessible through `$kak_key`
	in shells, or `%val{key}` in commands.

*menu* <label1> <commands1> <label2> <commands2> ...::
	display a menu using labels, the selected label’s commands are
	executed. The *menu* command can take an *-auto-single* argument, to automatically
	run commands when only one choice is provided, and a *-select-cmds*
	argument, in which case menu takes three argument per item, the
	last one being a command to execute when the item is selected (but
	not validated)

*info* [options] <text>::
	display text in an information box with the following *options*:

	*-anchor* <line>.<column>:::
		print the text at the given coordinates

	*-placement* {above,below}:::
		set the placement relative to the anchor

	*-title* <text>:::
		set the title of the message box

*try* <commands> catch <on_error_commands>::
	prevent an error in *commands* from aborting the whole command
	execution, execute *on_error_commands* instead. If nothing is to be
	done on error, the catch part can be omitted

*reg* <name> <content>::
	set register *name* to *content*

*select* <anchor_line>.<anchor_column>,<cursor_line>.<cursor_column>:...::
	replace the current selections with the one described in the argument

*debug* {info,buffers,options,memory,shared-strings,profile-hash-maps,faces}::
	print some debug information in the *\*debug** buffer

Note that those commands are also available in the interactive mode, but
are not really useful in that context.

Multiple commands
-----------------
Commands (c.f. previous sections) can be chained, by being separated either
by new lines or by semicolons, as such a semicolon must be escaped with a
backslash (\;) to be considered as a literal semicolon argument

Declaring new commands
----------------------
New commands can be defined using the *define-command* command:

*define-command* [flags] <command_name> <commands>::
	*commands* is a string containing the commands to execute, and *flags*
	can be any combination of the following parameters:

*-params* <num>:::
	the command accepts a *num* parameter, which can be either a number,
	or of the form <min>..<max>, with both <min> and <max> omittable

*-file-completion*:::
	try file completion on any parameter passed to this command

*-client-completion*:::
	try client name completion on any parameter passed to this command

*-buffer-completion*:::
	try buffer name completion on any parameter passed to this command

*-shell-completion*:::
	following string is a shell command which takes parameters as
	positional params and output one completion candidate per line

*-allow-override*:::
	allow the new command to replace an existing one with the same name

*-hidden*:::
	do not show the command in command name completions

*-docstring*:::
	define the documentation string for the command

Using shell expansion allows defining complex commands or accessing
Kakoune's state:

--------------------------------------------------------
def " print_selection %{ echo %sh{ ${kak_selection} } }"
--------------------------------------------------------