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KAKOUNE(1)
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NAME
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faq - a

How to pronounce the name of the project and what does it mean ?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The name of the project is pronounced "Kak-oon", and is a word taken from a
New Caledonian dialect based on french. It means a hard blow, usually a punch,
but generally refers to a blow into which which all of one's strength went.

Is there going to be a Windows port of Kakoune ?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As many features provided by UNIX systems would be missing, or if anything
much less performant on a Windows system, the incentive to porting the
project to this operating system is pretty low.

Moreover, you can get pretty decent performance by using Kakoune on Cygwin
(which is officially supported).

Can you get rid of the `boost` dependency and just use std::regex ?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The `boost-regex` library provides use with several features that are heavily
relied upon across several core scripts, and a few of them are not available
in the standard `std::regex` implementations. Therefore, until the standard
catches up with `boost` in terms of features, the latter will remain a hard
-mandatory- dependency.

Kakoune is very slow on big files, what can I do about it ?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The default build mode (set in the `Makefile` of the `src` directory of the
project) is "debug", which makes it convenient to track issues but also
affects performance. To disable the debug mode, recompile the project by
setting the `debug` variable in `src/Makefile` to `no`.

Note that if your distribution provides a "kakoune" package, the program should
already be built in non-debug mode (if you still experience slowness, please
report the issue on the bug tracker).

Can I use Kakoune as a pager ?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kakoune can be used as a pager, either by setting the `EDITOR` environment
variable to `kak`, or by writing data directly to its standard input using a
shell pipeline. However, since the program relies on several heavy dynamic
libraries (`boost` being one of them), it will be slightly less pratical
than other regular pagers (such as `less` or `more`) which have a minimal
amount of runtime dependencies.

Are there any non-console based frontends available ?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

No graphical frontend is currently officially maintained, you can however
try experimental community-developed ones.

How do I automatically indent code, as Vim does with `=` ?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As `Kakoune` doesn't parse the contents of the buffers, there is no builtin
equivalent for this Vim feature. Use a formatter/prettifier dedicated to
the language you're using with the help of the `|` key.

Example: `%|indent<ret>` to indent an entire buffer with C code.

Note that some languages have a default formatter set, which you can use
with the `:format` command.

Can Kakoune automatically complete the parameters of my functions ?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As mentioned in the above question about Vim's `=` key, Kakoune does not
parse the contents of a buffer by itself, which makes it impossible for
the editor to propose candidates upon completion.

However, support for such a feature can be achieved through the use of a
dedicated tool, as is the case with `clang` and C code: you can use the
`clang-enable-autocomplete` and `clang-complete` builtin commands whenever
editing a C/C++ file, and completion will work on function parameters.

Note that the same features are available for python buffers, with the
`jedi` script.

Why aren't widely known command line shortcuts such as <c-w> or <c-u> available in Kakoune ?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Despite their widespread availability in multiple tools, those shortcuts do
not fit the paradigm that Kakoune implements, which is based on selections
first.

However, you can easily declare key mappings in your configuration file
to be able to use those control-based shortcuts in insert mode (c.f. the
"map" command in the "commands" documentation page).

How can I explore the filesystem the way Vim's NerdTree does ?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The builtin file completion engine used when opening a file for editing
(using the `:edit` command and letting the suggestions popup in the menu
beneath) is much more convenient than Vim's, which should suit basic needs.

However, if you need an actual explorer to interact with the editor,
you can create a Kakoune script that will spawn the tool in question,
which should in return send an "edit" command followed by the path of the
file you selected to the current Kakoune session (e.g. `echo "eval -client
$kak_client edit /path/to/file" | kak -p $kak_session`).

Why aren't there other scopes similar to `%sh{}` e.g. python ?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Supporting custom scopes would add hard dependencies to the project, which
is too much of an drawback when balanced against the low cost of using
an interpreter in a regular shell scope (e.g. `%sh{ python -c "..." }`).
The shell scope allows users to spawn any interpreter they want, for a minimal
cost in terms of performance, it is therefore the reason why it's the only
one available by default.

Can I disable auto-indentation completely ?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All the indentation hooks are conventionally named `<lang>-indent`, which
allows us to use the `disabled_hooks` variable to disable indentation
globally with the following command: `set global disabled_hooks '.+-indent'`

Can I disable syntax highlighting completely ?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Similarly to the indentation hooks, the name format followed by the
highlighting hooks is `<lang>-highlight`. You can thus disable syntax
highlighting using the following command: `set global disabled_hooks
'.+-highlight'`