kakoune/doc/manpages/commands.asciidoc

KAKOUNE(1)
==========

NAME
----
commands - a

Primitives
----------
*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 it's name if filename is not given

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

*q[uit]*::
	exit Kakoune, use quit! to force quitting even if there is some unsaved buffers remaining

*wq*::
	write current buffer and quit

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

*d[el]b[uf]* [<name>]::
	delete the buffer <name>, use d[el]b[uf]! to force deleting a modified buffer

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

*runtime* <filename>::
	execute commands in <filename>, <filename> is relative to kak executable path

*colorscheme* <name>::
	load named colorscheme

*nameclient* <name>::
	set current client name

*namebuf* <name>::
	set current buffer name

*echo* <text>::
	show <text> in status line

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

*set* <scope> <name> <value>::
	change the value of an option (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

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

*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)

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

*map* <scope> <mode> <key> <keys>::
	bind a combination of keys to another one (c.f. the 'commands' 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)

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

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

*rmhl* <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> <register> <command>::
	prompt the user for a string, when the user validates, store the result in given *register* and run *commmand*. the *-init <str>* switch allows setting initial content

*onkey* <register> <command>::
	wait for next key from user, writes it into given <register> and execute commands

*menu* <label1> <commands1> <label2> <commands2> ...::
	display a menu using labels, the selected label’s commands are executed. menu 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* <text>::
	display text in an information box, at can take an *-anchor* option, which accepts left, right and cursor as value, in order to specify where the info box should be anchored relative to the main selection

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

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

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 *def* command:

*def* [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 exisiting 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 to define complex commands or to access Kakoune state:

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