kakoune/doc/pages/registers.asciidoc

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= Registers
== Description
Registers are named lists of text -instead of simply text- in order to interact
well with multiselection. They are used for various purposes, like storing
yanked text, the locations of selections in a buffer, or groups captured by a
regular expression.
== Interacting
*<c-r><c>*::
when in insert mode or in a prompt, insert the value stored in the
*c* register (single character)
*"<c>*::
in normal mode, select the *<c>* register (single character)
== Alternate names
Non alphanumeric registers have an alternative name that can be used
in contexts where only alphanumeric identifiers are possible.
== Default registers
All normal-mode commands using a register default to a specific one if not specified:
*"* (dquote)::
default delete / copy / paste / replace register, used by:
*c*, *d*, *y*, *p*, *<a-p>*, *<P>*, *<a-P>*, *R* and *<a-R>*
(see <<keys#changes, `:doc keys changes`>>)
*/* (slash)::
default search / regex register, used by:
*/*, *<a-/>*, *?*, *<a-?>*, *n*, *<a-n>*, *N*, *<a-N>*, ***, *<a-*>*,
*s*, *S*, *<a-k>* and *<a-K>*
(see <<keys#searching, `:doc keys searching`>>)
*@* (arobase)::
default macro register, used by:
*q* and *Q*
(see <<keys#macros, `:doc keys macros`>>)
*^* (caret)::
default mark register, used by:
*z*, *<a-z>*, *Z* and *<a-Z>*
(see <<keys#marks, `:doc keys marks`>>
and <<registers#marks, `:doc registers marks`>>)
*|* (pipe)::
default shell command register, used by commands that spawn a subshell:
*|*, *<a-|>*, *!* and *<a-!>*
(see <<keys#changes-through-external-programs, `:doc keys changes-through-external-programs`>>)
== Special registers
Some registers are not general purposes, they cannot be written to, but they
contain some special data
*%* (percent)::
current buffer name
*.* (dot)::
current selection contents
*#* (hash)::
selection indices (first selection has 1, second has 2, ...)
*_* (underscore)::
null register, always empty
*:* (colon)::
last entered command
== Integer registers
Registers *1* to *9* hold the grouped sub-matches of the regular
expression used to make the last selection. Example: applying the
following regular expression to the date of the day would put the day of
the week in register *1*, the month in register *2*, and the day of the
month in register *3*, but select the entire date:
--------------------
(\w+) (\w+) (\d+) .+
--------------------
== Marks
When a register is used to store a set of selections with the *Z* key (see
<<keys#marks, `:doc keys marks`>>), the selections are stored as a list of
spans, in a format similar to `%val{selections_desc}` (see
<<expansions#value-expansions, `:doc expansions value-expansions`). However,
the very first item of the list is of the form:
---------------------
/path/to/file@123@456
---------------------
...where:
/path/to/file::
represents the filesystem path of the file where the selections were saved,
like `%val{buffile}`.
123::
represents the value of `%val{timestamp}` when the selections were saved,
so the selections can still be restored after the buffer has been modified,
or modifications undone.
456::
indicates which was the main selection, when the selections were saved
(zero-based).
You can examine the content of a mark register by using `<a-p>` to paste it,
so you can see all its items, not limited to the current number of selections.