home/doc/pages/commands.asciidoc

= Commands

== Builtins

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). Aliases are mentionned below each commands.

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

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

*edit[!]* <filename> [<line> [<column>]]::
	*alias* e +
	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

*write[!]* [<filename>]::
	*alias* w +
	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.

*write-all*::
	*alias* wa +
	write all buffers that are associated to a file

*quit!* [<exit status>]::
	*alias* q +
	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>

*write-all-quit* [<exit status>]::
	*alias* waq +
	write all buffers 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

*buffer* <name>::
	*alias* b +
	switch to buffer <name>

*buffer-next*::
	*alias* bn +
	switch to the next buffer

*buffer-prev*::
	*alias* bp +
	switch to the previous buffer

*delete-buffer[!]* [<name>]::
	*alias* db +
	delete the buffer <name>

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

*colorscheme* <name>::
	load named colorscheme

*rename-client* <name>::
	*alias* nc +
	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)

*fail* <text>::
	raise an error, uses <text> as its description

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

*set-option* <scope> <name> <value>::
	*alias* set +
	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>::
	*alias* unset +
	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

*set-face* <name> <facespec>::
	*alias* face +
	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>::
	*alias* def +
	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>::
	*alias* rmhooks +
	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> ...::
	*alias* addhl +
	add a highlighter to the current window (c.f. the 'highlighters'
	documentation page)

*remove-highlighter* <highlighter_id>::
	*alias* rmhl +
	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

*set-register* <name> <content>::
	*alias* reg +
	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,mappings}::
	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

*-command-completion*:::
	try command 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.
	The provided shell command will run after each keypress

*-shell-candidates*:::
	following string is a shell command which takes parameters as
	positional params and output one completion candidate per line.
	The provided shell command will run once at the beginning of each
	completion session, candidates are cached and then used by kakoune
	internal fuzzy engine

*-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:

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