= Options == Description Kakoune can store named and typed values that can be used both to customize the core editor behaviour, and to store data used by extension scripts. [[set-option]] Options can be modified using the `set-option` command: --------------------------------- set-option --------------------------------- can be *global*, *buffer*, *window* or *current* (See <>). *current* relate to the narrowest scope in which the option is already set. [[unset-option]] Options values can be unset in a specific scope with the `unset-option` command: --------------------------- unset-option --------------------------- Unsetting an option will make it fallback to the value of its parent mode, hence options cannot be unset from the *global* scope. [[declare-option]] New options can be declared using the `declare-option` command: ------------------------------------------------ declare-option [-hidden] [] ------------------------------------------------ If `-hidden` is specified, the option will not be displayed in completion suggestions. [[update-option]] Certain option type can be *updated*, usually to match potential changes in the buffer they relate to. This can be triggered by the `update-option` command: ---------------------------- update-option ---------------------------- == Types All options have a type, which defines how they are translated to/from text and their set of valid values. Some types are usable for user defined options while some other types are exclusively available to built-in options. *int*:: an integer number *bool*:: a boolean value, yes/true or no/false *str*:: a string, some freeform text *regex*:: as a string but the set commands will complain if the entered text is not a valid regex *coord*:: a line, column pair (separated by comma) *-list*:: a list, elements are separated by a colon (:) if an element needs to contain a colon, it can be escaped with a backslash *range-specs*:: a `:` separated list of a pair of a buffer range (`.,.` or `.+`) and a string (separated by `|`), except for the first element which is just the timestamp of the buffer. When the `update-option` is used on an option of this type, its ranges gets updated according to all the buffer modifications that happened since its timestamp. See <>) *line-specs*:: a `:` separated list of a line number and a corresponding flag (`|`), except for the first element which is just the timestamp of the buffer. When the `update-option` is used on an option of this type, its lines gets updated according to all the buffer modifications that happened since its timestamp. See <>) *completions*:: a `:` separated list of `||` candidates, except for the first element which follows the `.[+]@` format to define where the completion apply in the buffer. Markup can be used in the menu text. *enum(value1|value2|...)*:: an enum, taking one of the given values *flags(value1|value2|...)*:: a set of flags, taking a combination of the given values joined by a '|' character == Builtin options *tabstop* `int`:: _default_ 8 + width of a tab character *indentwidth* `int`:: _default_ 4 + width (in spaces) used for indentation, 0 means a tab character *scrolloff* `coord`:: _default_ 0,0 + number of lines, columns to keep visible around the cursor when scrolling *eolformat* `enum(lf|crlf)`:: _default_ lf + the format of end of lines when writing a buffer, this is autodetected on load; values of this option assigned to the `window` scope are ignored *BOM* `enum(none|utf8)`:: _default_ none + define if the file should be written with a unicode byte order mark; values of this option assigned to the `window` scope are ignored *readonly* `bool`:: _default_ false + prevent modifications from being saved to disk, all buffers if set to `true` in the `global` scope, or current buffer if set in the `buffer` scope; values of this option assigned to the `window` scope are ignored *incsearch* `bool`:: _default_ true + execute search as it is typed *aligntab* `bool`:: _default_ false + use tabs for alignment command *autoinfo* `flags(command|onkey|normal)`:: _default_ command|onkey + display automatic information box in the enabled contexts *autoshowcompl* `bool`:: _default_ true + automatically display possible completions when editing a prompt *ignored_files* `regex`:: filenames matching this regex won't be considered as candidates on filename completion (except if the text being completed already matches it) *disabled_hooks* `regex`:: hooks whose group matches this regex won't be executed. For example indentation hooks can be disabled with `.*-indent` *filetype* `str`:: arbitrary string defining the type of the file filetype dependant actions should hook on this option changing for activation/deactivation *path* `str-list`:: _default_ ./:%/:/usr/include + directories to search for *gf* command and filenames completion `%/` represents the current buffer directory *completers* `completer-list`:: _default_ filename:word=all + completion engines to use for insert mode completion (they are tried in order until one generates candidates). Existing completers are: *word=all*, *word=buffer*::: which complete using words in all buffers (*word=all*) or only the current one (*word=buffer*) *filename*::: which tries to detect when a filename is being entered and provides completion based on local filesystem *line*::: which complete using lines in current buffer *option=*::: where *opt-name* is an option of type 'completions' whose contents will be used *static_words* `str-list`:: list of words that are always added to completion candidates when completing words in insert mode *extra_word_chars* `codepoint-list`:: a list of all additional codepoints that should be considered as word character. *matching_pairs* `codepoint-list`:: _default_ `(:):{:}:[:]:<:>` a list of codepoints that are to be treated as matching pairs for the *m* command. *autoreload* `enum(yes|no|ask)`:: _default_ ask + auto reload the buffers when an external modification is detected *debug* `flags(hooks|shell|profile|keys|commands)`:: dump various debug information in the '\*debug*' buffer *idle_timeout* `int`:: _default_ 50 + timeout, in milliseconds, with no user input that will trigger the *PromptIdle*, *InsertIdle* and *NormalIdle* hooks, and autocompletion. *fs_checkout_timeout* `int`:: _default_ 500 + timeout, in milliseconds, between checks in normal mode of modifications of the file associated with the current buffer on the filesystem. *modelinefmt* `string`:: A format string used to generate the mode line, that string is first expanded as a command line would be (expanding '%...{...}' strings), then markup tags are applied (See <>) Two special atoms are available as markup: *`{{mode_info}}`*::: Information about the current mode, such as `insert 3 sel` or `prompt`. The faces used are StatusLineMode, StatusLineInfo, and StatusLineValue. *`{{context_info}}`*::: Information such as `[+][recording (@)][no-hooks][new file][fifo]`, in face Information. The default value is '%val{bufname} %val{cursor_line}:%val{cursor_char_column} {{context_info}} {{mode_info}} - %val{client}@[%val{session}]' *ui_options* `str-to-str-map`:: colon separated list of key=value pairs that are forwarded to the user interface implementation. The NCurses UI support the following options: *ncurses_set_title*::: if *yes* or *true*, the terminal emulator title will be changed *ncurses_status_on_top*::: if *yes*, or *true* the status line will be placed at the top of the terminal rather than at the bottom *ncurses_assistant*::: specify the nice assistant displayed in info boxes, can be *clippy* (the default), *cat*, *dilbert* or *none* *ncurses_enable_mouse*::: boolean option that enables mouse support *ncurses_change_colors*::: boolean option that can disable color palette changing if the terminfo enables it but the terminal does not support it. *ncurses_wheel_down_button*, *ncurses_wheel_up_button*::: specify which button send for wheel down/up events