198 lines
8.4 KiB
Plaintext
198 lines
8.4 KiB
Plaintext
= FAQ
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== How to pronounce the name of the project and what does it mean ?
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The name of the project is pronounced "Kak-oon", and is a word taken from a
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New Caledonian dialect based on french. It means a hard blow, usually a punch,
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but generally refers to a blow into which all of one's strength went.
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== Is there going to be a Windows port of Kakoune ?
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As many features provided by UNIX systems would be missing, or if anything
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much less efficient on a Windows system, the incentive to porting the
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project to this operating system is pretty low.
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Moreover, you can get pretty decent performance by using Kakoune on Cygwin
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(which is officially supported).
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== Can I use Kakoune as a pager ?
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Kakoune can be used as a pager, either by setting the `PAGER` environment
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variable to `kak`, or by writing data directly to its standard input using a
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shell pipeline.
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== Are there any non-console based frontends available ?
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No graphical frontend is currently officially maintained, you can however
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try experimental community-developed ones.
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== Why are colors misrendered in my Kakoune clients ?
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The most probable cause for that is a very widespread practice that consists
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in setting the `TERM` environment variable in the shell's configuration file.
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This variable should be set by the terminal emulator, and not overridden with
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an arbitrary value, otherwise it might interfere with general UI rendering on
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the terminal's window.
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== I'm using `tmux` and colors look weird
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If you're using a tool that doesn't support "palette switching", colors will
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still be slightly off: they are being rounded down to values supported by the
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regular color palette by Kakoune. Fortunately, on recent versions of `tmux`
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(>=2.6), you can work around that by using the following configuration
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settings:
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.~/.tmux.conf
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----
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set -g default-terminal "tmux-256color"
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set -ga terminal-overrides ",*col*:Tc"
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----
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Note: `\*col*` is a regular expression that matches your terminal's `$TERM`
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value, modify it if necessary, e.g. `xterm-termite`.
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Next, run the following command to create a local `terminfo` override:
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----
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$ tic /path/to/kakoune/contrib/tmux-256color.terminfo
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----
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Finally, quit all existing sessions (`tmux kill-server`), and restart `tmux`.
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== Why does leaving insert mode take more than half a second in `tmux` ?
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Upon hitting the escape key, `tmux` waits for a short period of time to
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determine whether it's part of a function or a meta key sequence. In order
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to fix this "lag", set the waiting period in your `tmux` configuration file
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to a short time, e.g. 25ms: `set -sg escape-time 25`
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== How do I automatically indent code, as Vim does with `=` ?
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As `Kakoune` doesn't parse the contents of the buffers, there is no builtin
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equivalent for this Vim feature. Use a formatter/prettifier dedicated to
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the language you're using with the help of the `|` key.
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Example: `%|indent<ret>` to indent an entire buffer with C code.
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Note that some languages have a default formatter set, which you can use
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with the `:format` command.
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== Can Kakoune automatically complete the parameters of my functions ?
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As mentioned in the above question about Vim's `=` key, Kakoune does not
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parse the contents of a buffer by itself, which makes it impossible for
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the editor to propose candidates upon completion.
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However, support for such a feature can be achieved through the use of a
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dedicated tool, as is the case with `clang` and C code: you can use the
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`clang-enable-autocomplete` and `clang-complete` builtin commands whenever
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editing a C/C++ file, and completion will work on function parameters.
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Note that the same features are available for python buffers, with the
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`jedi` script.
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== Why aren't widely known command line shortcuts such as <c-w> or <c-u> available in Kakoune ?
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Despite their widespread availability in multiple tools, those shortcuts do
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not fit the paradigm that Kakoune implements, which is based on selections
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first.
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However, you can easily declare key mappings in your configuration file
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to be able to use those control-based shortcuts in insert mode.
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(See <<mapping#,`:doc mapping`>>)
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== How can I explore the filesystem the way Vim's NerdTree does ?
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The builtin file completion engine used when opening a file for editing
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(using the `:edit` command and letting the suggestions popup in the menu
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beneath) is much more convenient than Vim's, which should suit basic needs.
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However, if you need an actual explorer to interact with the editor,
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you can create a Kakoune script that will spawn the tool in question,
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which should in return send an "edit" command followed by the path of the
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file you selected to the current Kakoune session (e.g. `echo "eval -client
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$kak_client edit /path/to/file" | kak -p $kak_session`).
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== Why aren't there other scopes similar to `%sh{}` e.g. python ?
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Supporting custom scopes would add hard dependencies to the project, which
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is too much of a drawback when balanced against the low cost of using
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an interpreter in a regular shell scope (e.g. `%sh{ python -c "..." }`).
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The shell scope allows users to spawn any interpreter they want, for a minimal
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cost in terms of performance, it is therefore the reason why it's the only
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one available by default.
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== What shell is used to expand `%sh{}` scopes ?
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The server expands shell scopes using the `sh` binary, stored in one of the
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directories where all the POSIX standard utilities can be found -this list
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of directories is stored in a system configuration variable, and queried
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by Kakoune at startup.
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In most distributions, `/bin/sh` will end up being used.
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== Can I disable auto-indentation completely ?
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All the indentation hooks are conventionally named `<lang>-indent`, which
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allows us to use the `disabled_hooks` variable to disable indentation
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globally with the following command: `set global disabled_hooks '.+-indent'`
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== How to enable syntax highlighting ?
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The mimetype of the files opened in new buffers is detected using the
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`file` command, and syntax highlighting enabled automatically when
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possible.
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== My file seems to be highlighted with the wrong colors, I thought syntax highlighting was detected automatically ?
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The `file` utility has several short comings, such as detecting the
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wrong mimetype for a file containing data with different syntax, e.g.
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a Python script containing hardcoded HTML templates detected as an HTML
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file.
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Kakoune does its best at detecting file types (using known extensions
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for a given format for instance), but not much can be done about those
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ambiguous cases. You might consider writing a custom `$HOME/.magic` file
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if needed.
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== Can I disable syntax highlighting completely ?
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Similarly to the indentation hooks, the name format followed by the
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highlighting hooks is `<lang>-highlight`. You can thus disable syntax
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highlighting using the following command: `set global disabled_hooks
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'.+-highlight'`
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== Why does a dot `.` in a regex select newline characters ?
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Data in buffers is a stream of characters, and newlines do not receive special
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treatment compared to other characters, with regards to regex matching. In
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order to select data in a line without any trailing newline characters, one could
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use the `[^\n]+` pattern, which is arguably a good compromise when
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balanced against the ability to select data over several lines.
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== Can I split the window to display different buffers in them ?
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As a fairly compliant follower of the UNIX philosophy, Kakoune does not
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try to implement features that are best handled by separate, dedicated
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tools. Windows splitting in terminals is a prime example of that
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concept, where the editor provides commands to interact with several
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terminal multiplexers (e.g. `tmux`), as opposed to emulating their
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functionalities.
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In order to open buffers in the same window simultaneously using `tmux`
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(or one of the supported multiplexers), run Kakoune in a `tmux` session,
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and simply use the `:new` command to spawn new clients as you would
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have otherwise in an X11 environment.
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== Why does `a` extend the current selection, but `i` leaves it untouched ?
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Selections are ranges of characters whose delimiters are an "anchor" and
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a "cursor", and inserting characters is always done before the cursor in
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insert mode.
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Consequently, using the append primitive (`a`) nudges the cursor forward to
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make room for characters, effectively extending the current selection since
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the anchor remains immobile, even when the anchor and the cursor are at the
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same location. By opposition, using the insert primitive (`i`) merely adds
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characters before the cursor, which never modifies the current selection.
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